LG’s newest patent introduces 16-lens smartphone camera

What’s one, two, or three camera setups in a phone when you can have 16? LG is looking to set itself apart from the competition with its newest camera patent. The company might eventually plan to release a smartphone with a 16-camera array in a 4 x 4 matrix. The goal here is that these multiple cameras will be able to offer different angles of a scene with the help of these different lenses. And the different datasets these lenses provide could potentially cut out things from an image—say changing the background a bit, fixing a blink or the like. The lenses could also be made on a flat surface or approached with a concave curve. The latter could possibly give 3D information about a scene, producing some interesting photos.

Aside from that there’s also the possibility of creating mini films, which The Verge describes as something like “superpowered version” of Apple’s Live Photos or Lytro’s adjustable light field images. But at the moment, we need to remember that this is a patent and doesn’t necessarily mean it could happen. Although at the rate smartphone innovation is going, we wouldn’t be surprised if we see an LG device sporting this camera setup.

Source: ExtremeTech