Apple's Upcoming iPhone 12 May Feature the iPad Pro's New LiDAR Scanner
Observed in two teardown videos of Apple’s latest product.
Thanks to teardown videos of Apple‘s latest iPad Pro by iFixit and YouTube account EverythingApplePro, we may have a clue about a new feature the iPhone 12 may include.
In the footage below, we see an exposed iPad Pro and its new LiDAR scanner, which is revealed to be small enough to fit perfectly inside of the upcoming iPhone. In the video above, the actual LiDAR scanner is dissected to reveal two lends-capped modules that contain a VCSEL transmitter and a receiving sensor.
The former works similarly to Face ID, utilizing dozens of infrared dots for the sensor to capture. As a result of all the information above, EverythingApplePro rendered the LiDAR design module to scale, mapping it against the iPhone 11 Pro hardware to reveal “that the two pieces even click together with the current iPhone 11 Pro lens.”
This can lead many to speculate that the upcoming iPhone 12 won’t make too many changes from the camera hardware when compared to the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max. 9to5mac also reports that the iOS 14 code contains evidence of a new app called Gobi that focuses on AR using LiDAR sensors. Many believe that the upcoming iPhone’s AR capabilities will be a game-changer for the smartphone market and a true differential against rival companies.
In related iPhone 12 news, Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max may feature a bigger camera sensor and sensor-shift stabilization.
