# Apple and Possible iPhone Pro with TWO 1/2 inch sensors (one 26.1 megapixel with 6K video) and one 960 by 540 Infrared Nightvision sensor



## HarryFilm (Nov 29, 2019)

One my my European rumour mongers is at it again by espousing that Apple may be getting into Large sensor mobiles and professional/industrial use smartphone by putting in a low pixel count infrared nightvision sensor (like the CAT S60 rugged phones) along with a 26.1 megapixel 6K resolution stills/video sensor with HDR 10 bit 4:2:2 video at 60 fps at 6144 by 4256 total pixels for stills and video (3:2 aspect ratio). It was espoused to me that the new phone is to be simply called the iPhone Pro IR with no numeric monikers and ONLY a large iPhone XL sized screen will be made available.

These are the noted specs above and what is interesting is that design-wise, the 1/2 inch 26.1 megapixel sensor AND the low-pixel count IR sensor is being included on the back in a horizontal black stripe on the upper part of the phone similar to what was used on the old iPods. The thickness will be only 9.5mm thick which means they have SOLVED the focal plane distance issues for 1/2 inch sensors. And since the resolution is espoused to be a 6144x4256 for the sensor, this means it is highly likely it IS similar to the TransX series of sensor developed for Fuji that are made by Sony but made smaller onto 1/2 inch sensor dies. I suspect it is modded by Apple for HDR 10-bit 4:4:4 stills and 4:2:2 10 bit video which means the light gathering power will be outstanding!

It seems Apple will restrain themselves on the megapixel count to focus on HDR and low-light gathering ability for stills and video!

The IR sensor will be used for BOTH 3D depth imaging AND thermal (IR) video/stills nightvision services. This means the covering glass, lenses, flash and solid LED light would need to be IR friendly which means more than one type of LED light and cover glass (likely Quartz or Sapphire!) will present on the phone. Extra software is being developed and it seems there might already be an API (Application Programming Interface) within the latest Apple SDK's (Software Development Kits) for Nightvision/Thermal imagery capture and manipulation, which further supports the inclusion of a larger Infrared sensor on an upcoming iPhone.

I have no introduction date or other details as of yet!

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST !!!!!

===

P.S. It was a REALLY NICE DAY (November 28, 2019) here in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada which was a painful reminder to me to ALWAYS bring a decent camera along with me on my power walks ....BUT.... since I did have a TOY camera with me, I at least got SOMETHING on "film" !!!


Remember that the BEST CAMERA is the one you actually have on you !!!!!

.

.


----------



## Antono Refa (Nov 29, 2019)

Baron Munchausen is dead. Long live Harry film!


----------



## HarryFilm (Nov 29, 2019)

Not sure what to make of the Baron Munchausen comment other than asking if it refers to the movie "The Never Ending Story" (a terrible movie by the way!) which contained such a character or if it refers to a medical condition "Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome" of which I am most definitely not suffering from.

DIFFERING from my earlier proclamations, i do make note that I mention the term "espouse" which means on a general basis, I have a "Guarded Belief" that the Apple IR sensor + 26.1 megapixel sensor smartphone rumour is reasonably correct at this time due to the nature of the European rumourmonger and their electrical engineering employment credentials!

NOW... my earlier assertions of the 50.3 Megapixel 65mm sesnor combined stills/video MF camera that captures DCI 8K video at 60 fps to 120 fps at 4:4:4 16 bits per channel coming out soon? That is NOT a belief --- THAT IS A FACT !!! Cuz it's sitting on a desk that I can see! Along with the large sensor 2/3rds inch and one APS-C sensor super-smartphones sitting right next to it! WHICH WORK GREAT BY THE WAY !!!!

.


----------



## Kit. (Nov 29, 2019)

HarryFilm said:


> Extra software is being developed and it seems there might already be an API (Application Programming Interface) within the latest Apple SDK's (Software Development Kits) for Nightvision/Thermal imagery capture and manipulation,


Yeah, but doesn't it only work with Apple-branded liquid nitrogen cooling containers?


----------



## HarryFilm (Nov 29, 2019)

Kit. said:


> Yeah, but doesn't it only work with Apple-branded liquid nitrogen cooling containers?



---

You don't actually NEED supercooling for modern thermal imaging sensors! That was so 20 years ago! The CAT S60 smartphone was one of the first phones to have thermal imaging and its IR sensor is only 640 by 480 pixels so the upgrade to 960 x 540 pixels (i.e. 1/2 HDTV resolution on each axis) is not out of the realm of possibility. At a 1/2 inch sensor size you can easily sense Near Infrared wavelengths (i.e. 750 nanometres to 2500 nanometres) although NOT into the far infrared range of 15 microns to 1mm wavelengths.

A 1/2 inch sensor at 960 by 540 pixels will be about 6.4 mm by 3.6 mm with a photosite size of about 6.5 microns which will result in a VERY NICE IR (thermal) image on a smartphone. You use computational software to combine the thermal image data with the 26.1 megapixel optical camera sensor (which will be slightly larger at about 6.4 mm by 4.1 mm in size) to get you really nice low-light level photography. I also suspect that Apple MAY be using a fast switching set of IR LEDs to flash infrared light pulses at a subject to measure the amount of time between IR pulses bouncing off real world objects/subjects so that accurate 3D measurement data can be taken, which is what I really think is the BOTTOM LINE to Apple for this type of large sensor smartphone.

It means you have a portable 3D scanner able to convert ANY combined optical image + IR thermal image into a real-time 3D vector object convertor which can be saved as a textured B-spline model to import into Blender, Maya/Softimage/Discreet/etc. I did notice NEW 3D imaging functions in the latest Apple SDKs! The Thermal (nightvision) functionality would be just an added bonus! As a technical note, you could put the iPhone Pro IR into a headset and have the equivalent of a $4000 set of PVS-14 nightvision goggles for less than $1500 and it would probably OUTPERFORM them in terms of actual image quality!










 Cat® S60 Smartphone | Cat phones Australia







www.catphones.com






I don't have any other information other than my educated sensor size calculations, but I was told about actual drawings for the phone being passed around. Again, it was disclosed to me that this is a singular more professional-type of iPhone product SKU (i.e. likely MORE expensive but much more functional!) that will be the size of the XL series and that a Black glassy stripe will run across the upper part of the phone to "hide" the look of two 1/2 inch image sensors. I am VERY SURE that the 26.1 megapixel (6144x4256) will be nearly identical quality-wise to the Sony ones made for Fuji in their X-series of cameras....That actually bodes VERY WELL for low-light gathering power and actual final image quality for BOTH stills and video! 

AND I should also note that a sensor resolution of 26.1 megapixels DOES FIT with Apple's tendency to NOT follow the rest of the heard in
terms of the megapixel race. It does to me sound like a focus on actual IMAGE QUALITY rather than mere huge megapixel numbers like what Samsung, Google, Xiaomi or Huawei tend to focus on! That in itself give more credence to the validity of this rumour in my opinion!

.
Anyways.... YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.


----------

