Is Apple Looking to Add a Global Shutter Sensor to Its Next iPhone?

A Rumored Global Shutter iPhone

According to Y.M. Cinema Magazine, new patents reveal that Apple is developing a global shutter sensor for the iPhone.

The report cites a new 3-floor stack design that explains how Apple’s global shutter sensor will be able to process information all at once.

Here are the three floors of the 3-floor stack design from the patent:

• Floor 1 is the light catcher.
• Floor 2 is a small waiting room.
• Floor 3 is the tiny meter that turns the light into numbers.

This method would be more optimal than the usual “rolling” method that we associate with rolling shutter sensors, which are more common and what Apple has used for iPhone models in the past.

What This Could Mean for iPhone Filmmakers

For iPhone filmmakers, this could be very big news as it would give iPhones a leg-up on many mirrorless and cinema cameras that don’t offer global shutter. If you’re shooting scenes with lots of action and movement, including whip pans or other moves where the camera needs to bounce and weave, then a global shutter will vastly improve its performance.

Your viewers will be able to see everything more naturally and without those annoying rolling shutter aberrations. You’ll also be able to better work with different types of lighting and get better results when shooting in chaotic lighting environments like music concerts or anything else with lots of LEDs.

What to Expect Next

Yet, while this is all exciting news to unearth, it doesn’t quite lay out any tangible next steps that filmmakers can expect in the coming months, or perhaps even years. With Apple just announcing a new iPhone this month, it would be reasonable to hope that global shutter might come to a new one next year, but it might be longer too.

We’ll keep you up to date on this news, though, and let you know if and when we hear anything else about what Apple might be planning for its next generation of iPhone models.