Folks at 9to5Mac are reporting that Sony CEO Howard Stringer told Wall Street Journal in an interview at Carnegie Hall in New York City that shipments of camera sensors to Apple have been delayed due to the devastating earthquake in Japan.
Interestingly, Sony currently doesn’t supply camera sensors for Apple’s iOS devices. It’s OmniVision Technologies that supply camera sensors for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 4G and iPad 2.
This suggests that Sony CEO was probably referring to camera sensors for the yet to be released fifth generation iPhone – iPhone 5.
9to5Mac reports:
Stringer just said that their camera image sensor facility in Sendai was affected by the tsunami. Getting image sensors to Apple will be delayed.
Wall Street Journal has also confirmed the discussion:
Early on, he raised the irony of Sony supplying camera components for Apple devices. It "always puzzles me," he said. "Why would I make Apple the best camera?"
It is unclear what devices he was talking about as Sony isn't known to supply key camera components, known as image sensors, to Apple; A Sony spokeswoman declined to comment and an Apple spokesperson couldn't be reached for comment.
Back in April 2010, Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar had claimed in a report that Apple had roped in Sony to supply 8-megapixel camera sensors for iPhone 5 while Omnivision would supply the 5-megapixel camera sensors for iPhone 4, which turned out to be accurate.
Apple usually unveils iPhone at the WorldWide Developer Conference 2011 but it is widely speculated that Apple will delay the launch of iPhone 5 until this fall. The exact reason for the delay is not yet known but this could be one of them.
In case you missed all the rumors and speculations about iPhone 5 then checkout this cool infographic.
What do you think about the possibility of iPhone 5 coming with 8-megapixel camera? Let us know in the comments below.
[via 9to5Mac]
Iphone need to get better and sexier.
Others will pick up quickly, so the edge will be the little more ‘apple juice’.
It’s not all about megapixels the iPhone 4 can take better pics than some 8 megapixel cameras on phones its the lens quality that makes it.
iPhone cybershot anyone?
I agree. The iPhone’s pics are ten times better than the Evo 4g, and that has an 8mp camera. Those pics are atrocious.
I agree. It’s the megapixels, cmos system and lenses that make a great iPhone cam
@Gooner iPhone CyberShot… I would love to have one !
Anyone who really knows digital cameras knows that its not the megapixels that makes a camera better, (primarily) its the size of the light sensor. In fact, if the megapixel size is too large for the size of the light sensor, picture quality will decrease slightly. 8-Megapixel is too much for the tiny sensor in the iphone. The megapixel size is unfortunately what most people use to judge the quality of a camera… In this case, I think its safe to say that if the sensor size does not increase it will decrease the quality of the iphone camera.
Who says these sensors are for iOS devices? Apple does make macs you know
i’m still waiting for ipad2 =(
agree with Dr Sassafras.
Maybe some new camera features, instead of a higher megapixel would be nice?! Like something that stops it blurring so bad, when anything moves while your taking a picture. But, that said, I’m still more than happy with my iPhone 4. It does everything I need, better than anything else on the market, well, apart from actually making calls!!! Bt that is O2 uk’s fault, not the iPhone 4!
If the 5 does get a 8MP camera just think how long its going to take to send pics over 3G. It takes long enough to send them with the 5MP. Hurry up and add 4G wireless Steve! Or just make it so you can re-size the pics before you send them like you can when you send pics in email.
that is good way to introduced a new generation of iPhone. I hope that they can add in FM Radio on the radio. Listening to internet radio on data is just not good.
Well then hopefully iPad 3 will get a 3 megapixel one.
are you serious i dont need to see everyones holes on there face and who cares im happy with any camera phone on the market there all nice cameras and another thing all smartphones are great and there all iphones if you think about it apple evens knows it why else do you think they sue google for cuz everybody clone there phone
I’m happy with the picture quality I get from my i4. Better is always welcome but I’m hoping for optical zoom and improved low light quality. I’m really hoping that Apple implements one of those lenses that can zoom without any external moving parts. I’ve seen some stand alone cameras that do this and I dont see why it cant be used in a phone camera.