Apple Technology Spring Festival “Glowtime” was officially held in the early morning of September 10 this year, released including iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2 and other hardware products.

 

 

 

Apple CEO Tim Cook set the tone for the launch, calling it “undoubtedly our biggest event of the year.”

 

 

 

During the phone launch, the new iPhones eliminated the perennial Mute Toggle in favor of a customizable Action Button, and added a new camera control button on the right side of the body. The iPhone 16's camera upgrade introduces an innovative Camera Control Touchpad, which combines a high-precision force sensor with a haptic engine to provide responsive feedback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In terms of imaging, the biggest upgrades to the iPhone 16 lineup are the inclusion of a 48-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and the fact that the iPhone 16 Pro lineup will popularize the 5x quad-prism telephoto, instead of just the Pro Max exclusively. It also supports 4K 120 fps video recording on both the Pro and Pro Max models.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chaodian Think Tank further understands from the cell phone industry chain that the main suppliers of iPhone 16 series camera modules are LGIT/Sharp/Foxconn/Kowei Electronics; the main suppliers of lenses are Dali Optical/Jade Crystal Optical/Sunny Optical; the main suppliers of motors are Alps/Sanmei Motor/Lixin Precision/Taiwan Da Yangguang; and the exclusive supplier of CMOS chips is Sony.

 

 

 

From the above supply chain can be seen in the current optical camera industry global key enterprises are concentrated in China, Japan, South Korea, three countries, from the early monopoly of Japan and South Korea, to the current Sino-Japanese-South Korean struggle for glory, with the domestic cell phone brands, “image arms race” began, in the process of optical imaging of the domestic brands have been directly with the international manufacturers to carry out The fight with international manufacturers.

 

 

 

Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo have adopted different strategies to improve the imaging power of their products. Some choose to go independent and pursue complete sovereignty and control over imaging technology.

 

 

 

On the other hand, some cell phone brands choose to deepen their cooperation with optical brands, leveraging the profound accumulation of professional optical manufacturers in lens design and optical technology to enhance the quality and experience of cell phone photography, and at the same time, leveraging the brand effect of the optical brands to enhance the market competitiveness of their products.

 

 

 

Apple's dominance in high-end models is expected to be shaken by the toothpaste-like technological innovation that no longer satisfies consumers.

 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)