There was a time when cell phones weren’t the way to go if you wanted to take great-quality photos. Thankfully, the technology in smartphone cameras continues to improve, with Apple potentially looking to step things up a notch by adding telescope zoom lenses to their future products.

The Current Frontrunners

When it comes to taking great photos, most smartphones are now capable of meeting the mark. However, at the moment, Huawei and Samsung seem to be leading the pack thanks to their use of periscope lenses. These allow for up to 5x optical zoom in some phones, making the pictures good enough to begin rivaling professional cameras. Apple doesn’t use such lenses yet, but it’s believed that things could change come 2022. That’s according to Ming-Chi Kuo anyway.

Working With New Suppliers

According to the Apple analyst, the company is contracting different lens suppliers to help improve their camera technology in future products. Korean company Semco is supposedly going to be responsible for bringing periscope lenses to iPhones in a few years, as well as introducing autofocus improvements for the upcoming iPhone 12. None of this has been confirmed by Apple, so there’s no assurance it will definitely happen. However, as a trusted voice in the industry, Kuo’s words definitely hold some weight.

Late To The Party

By the time that Apple introduces these lenses to their products, they may well be old news in the smartphone market. However, introducing tried and tested features has never been a bad thing for the company. Having a stronger camera certainly won’t hinder the sales of iPhones, even if Samsung and Huawei have far better lenses by that point. What Apple lacks in its camera technology, it more than makes up for in other features.

We might have to wait a few more years to see iPhones with periscope lenses, but we don’t doubt that the wait will be worth it.

Unity, a public trading tech firm entered a conclusive agreement in order to acquire Weta Digital by Peter Jackson for a sum of $1.625 billion. The transaction would be made in a stock and cash combination. Weta is a popular name as it was the VFX company that did the special effects for Avatar by James Cameron and Peter’s The Lord of the Rings. This deal is targeted to close by year-end.

Popular Movies That Weta Enhanced

Weta’s tech assets that are acquired by Unity will be renamed Weta Digital. However, Peter’s Weta VFX business will stay a separate entity under the name WetaFX. Recently, the company has also worked on movies like Eternals, Godzilla vs. Kong, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Jon Landau and Cameron are relying on Weta for their special effects of the sequel of Avatar.

Peter Believes in Unity

Unity is well known in the VR entertainment field. They are the creators of the Unity game engine that is real-time and used in virtual production for a lot of entertainment content. Peter said in a statement that the tools Weta Digital use help create unlimited possibilities and make things in your imagination come alive as though they are real. He also said that both Weta Digital and Unity have the ability to carve pathways for artists and bring about real changes in the cinematic world.

Huge Transactions

Prem Akkaraju joined Weta Digital in 2020 but will stay WetaFX’s CEO. Joe Marks, the CTO of Weta, joined Unity and will oversee things at Weta Digital. As for the tech aspect, through this huge transaction Unity will acquire 275 engineers as well as proprietary technology with the inclusion of Weta’s very own tools and cloud service in addition to Gazebo and Manuka renderers, the physics-based simulation tool Loki used for smoke and water, Barbershop’s hair and fur system and the technology to capture facial.