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Apple iPhone 11 may add night mode feature to rival Google's Night Sight

By Joshua Swingle

Published: Jun 12, 2019, 7:25 AM

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Apple iPhone 11 may add night mode feature to rival Google's Night Sight

Apple iPhone 11 & 11 Max CAD-based renders

Apple isn’t expected to make any major changes to the front of its upcoming flagships, but the next-gen iPhones are set to receive some pretty major cameras upgrades in terms of both hardware and software. Today, a potential new feature has been revealed.

Night Mode for the camera that'll rival Google's Night Sight

According to tipster Max Weinbach who shared the information with YouTube channel EverythingApplePro, the Cupertino-based company is currently working on a new Night Mode for its iPhone camera app. The feature will reportedly turn on automatically when low-light conditions are detected, but a dedicated mode that’ll allow users to manually activate it could make the cut too.

Specific details about how Apple plans to achieve its improved photography results weren’t provided, but the feature will reportedly be on par with the best implementations currently available. Specifically, it’s said to be comparable to the Night Sight option offered by Google and the Night Mode feature available on Huawei’s most recent premium flagships. No specific launch timeline was provided for the feature, but Apple is said to be testing it on the upcoming iPhone 11 series, making a release this September alongside the new devices and the final version of iOS 13 extremely likely.

Will it be on par or better than Google Night Sight?

It’s unclear at the moment if Apple’s Night Mode will be rolled out to previous-gen models such as the iPhone XS and iPhone XR. Presumably, the feature’s software will simply need to be adapted to the cameras found on older devices, as Google has done with Night Sight. Nevertheless, the possibility that Apple’s implementation will rely on a specific piece of camera hardware found on its 2019 flagships does also exist, so there’s certainly no guarantee at this point.

Apple has other hardware and software upgrades planned

If previous leaks are to be believed, the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max will feature a total of three 12-megapixel cameras on the rear, one of which will include a 2x telephoto zoom lens while another should boast 120-degree super-wide-angle alternative. The iPhone 11R, on the other hand, is expected to skip the wide-angle camera.

Like last year’s models, the main sensor and telephoto camera will support optical image stabilization. However, despite attempts to do so, the super-wide-angle shooter found on the premium models isn’t set to do so. Apple, nevertheless, is reportedly continuing the concept’s development and should have it ready in time for 2020’s iPhone lineup.

Accompanying the new rear setups should once again be a quad-LED flash. This time around, though, the Cupertino giant is reportedly aiming to achieve a more advanced implementation that’ll be brighter and light up more surrounding area. Completing the photographic setup is set to be a huge upgrade to Apple’s image signal processor (ISP). What the upgrade entails hasn’t yet been revealed, but it should result in notably better images. Lastly, Apple is said to be preparing an improved Smart HDR feature that’ll be “better than anything Google or Samsung or Huawei have done before.”

iPhone 11 and 11 Max CAD-based renders

On a related note, upgraded 12-megapixel selfie snappers are to be expected up front alongside an upgraded Face ID system that can be used from wider angles and shorter distances. Curiously, the latest Pixel 4 rumors suggest Google is also developing a 3D facial recognition system this year with hopes of it replacing the fingerprint scanner that it has used in the past. Very little is known about the feature at the moment, but it could potentially be on par with Apple's upgraded implementation or perhaps even better.