The Rapid Change of the Smartphone Camera

The original iPhone had a 2 megapixel camera. At the time, the iPhone camera was designed to be simple and convenient. Your phone was something you would carry anywhere. Anytime you needed to take a picture, you could. Today, we often use smartphone cameras to take pictures for reference. For example, let's say you need to take a picture of a flyer. You wouldn't be carrying around a point-and-shoot randomly, but even if you were, you'd have to take it back home and import it to your computer from your SD card. And even then, that picture is only available for viewing when you're on your computer. Moving on, the iPhone 3GS made a huge leap by introducing "tap to focus." The foundation of smartphone photography was formed when this came out. You could also take video on an iPhone now. The iPhone 4S had an 8 megapixel camera, which made images much clearer. Suddenly, other smartphone companies bragged about their cameras because they had more megapixels. For years, Apple improved their optics. This is where Apple differentiated themselves. They realized that there was a breaking point. It wasn't about megapixels anymore, it was about the overall quality. Today, with the iPhone X, we have Portrait Mode, Live Photos, and an optical lens. At this point, smartphones have replaced so many consumer cameras. And I notice that at this point, all smartphone cameras are the same in terms of quality. I notice that competitors to the iPhone brag about a slightly better camera rating. When I look at the comparisons, the photos are almost identical. If I took a photo on my iPhone, I wouldn't say, "It's great, but I wish the lighting were a hair better." I'm not suggesting that companies shouldn't make improvements to their optics anymore, but I think features like Portrait Mode, Live Photo, and HEIF help iPhone stand apart from its competitors. Features are now the next big thing to compete over.