Citing foreign technology media Patently Apple reported that LG Innotek, an important camera module foundry for Apple, plans to officially launch an ultra-compact optical zoom camera module at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
The camera module is an ultra-compact module that enables telephoto camera functionality in smartphones. It is possible to implement a mirrorless camera’s zoom lens mechanism on a smartphone to achieve sharper images in the 85-125mm focal length range without degrading image quality during video recording.
To ensure sharp images in the 85-125mm focal length range, LG Innotek has developed a zoom actuator that provides sharp image quality in all ranges from 4 to 9x magnification. In addition, its actuator excels in precision, speed and durability, and consumes less battery.
LG Innotek plans to accelerate market penetration with its differentiated technology and business capabilities as global customer demand for optical zoom continue to grow, said Jeong Cheol-dong, CEO of LG Innotek.
While LG Innotek is working with Qualcomm on Android phones, LG Innotek is still likely to be a supplier of the optical zoom module for Apple’s iPhone 15, a feature sorely lacking in the iPhone 14 Pro.
LG Innotek is Apple’s largest partner in the field of optics. Citing Korean media ETNews reported in October this year that the company has started developing a folding camera. The folding camera is the first technology used in Samsung Electronics’ smartphone (Galaxy S20 Ultra), which was launched in January last year.
Samsung Electronics acquired Israel’s Corephotonics to acquire the core technology, and Samsung Electro-Mechanics developed and commercialized the folding camera. After Samsung had the core technology of folding cameras, the possibility of cooperation between Apple and Samsung had been mentioned. It just so happens that Samsung Electro-Mechanics also began to supply lenses to Apple, and whether the two sides succeeded in supplying folding cameras has raised concerns in the industry.
