Did Steve Jobs’ iPad Have An iSight Camera?

By Leander Kahney (8:56 pm, Feb 01 2010)

Sharp-eyed observers have noticed what looks to be an iSight camera in the iPad Steve Jobs used in last week’s keynote.

Even though Jobs didn’t talk about a camera, and it’s not mentioned in Apple’s official tech specs, something that looks like an iSight camera can be seen when Jobs first holds the iPad up for everyone to see.

As he holds it up, the light catches the iPad’s surface, illuminating something underneath. That something looks like an iSight camera, similar to the ones built into MacBooks, under the screens.

In the official iPad podcast, it can be seen around the 1:23:40 mark.

It’s not conclusive, of course, but corroborates the prototype images published by Engadget in the run up to the event, which clearly show an iSight camera in the same position. And references to a camera have been found in both the iPad’s Address Book software and the iPad firmware.

The absence of a camera on the iPad has been one of the device’s most puzzling omissions. Although, as our own John Brownlee first noted, a camera in a tablet that’s sitting in your lap, staring up at you, doesn’t produce the most flattering camera angles.

UPDATE: A repair company called Mission Repair says the iPad’s frame clearly shows an empty spot for an iSight camera, and it is exactly the same size and shape as the iSight slot in a MacBook’s screen frame. (Mission Repair received a shipment of iPad parts on Monday, the company blog says).

Thanks NyxoLyno.

38 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by Leander Kahney.

Posted in Apple, Apple Tablet, iPad, News, Steve Jobs |

iFanboy
THATS NOT A CAMERA!!!! THATS JUST A PIMPLE.
http://howlongtoretire.posterous.com howlongtoretire
The comment about the camera angles is exactly right. You can’t maintain a steady angle while holding the pad, and docking it gives you no ability to tilt. An iSight could not be a serious consideration. What you see in that shot is likely a brightness sensor in my opinion.
Matt
yeah pretty sure thats the ambient light sensor. That’s my first thought cause that looks EXACTLY like my ipod’s light sensor when the light hits it right.
No camera. Seems pretty obvious…
Arron Hunt
Really? I think it actually has TWO cameras > http://i50.tinypic.com/117eioy.png
Honestly it seems to be a spec, or dead pixel? Why wouldn’t Steve announce a camera if it had one?
http://www.chrisburke.ca Chris Burke
i have to agree with howlongtoretire.. its a sensor of some sort.. because of you look above his left hand, you see a similar thing… and theres no way theres 2 cameras in the thing
http://dudepoole.blogspot.com Dude
Couldn’t that just be the home button and he is holding the thing upside down to show the accelerometer?
mark
Even it would be a camera how is it going to work when I am working in a landscape situation. Is my picture than sideways or will it be a camera that rolls with the iPad? Hey, it is the last thing I came up with the reason why the camera has not yet been announced? A camera in it is not that difficult, one that can follow the set up of the iPad even more so.
Bill Gates
Dear Steve Jobs,
We have bad news for you. The factory in China already have thousands of new PC TABLETS with Window7. It does offer multitasking and FLASH and more.
More detail at
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3247916&id=691923258
They will arrive here in next few months or sooner. This will make you to eat your heart and die.
This is our sweet revenge for you. Grin.
Sean
Yeah, that’d be awesome but it also looks like a dirt spot, see there’s another on the side bezel
Jared
The shot that everyone is talking about is actually at 9:23 (1:23.40 is the time left in the podcast), simple mistake.
Onezer
Are you kidding me? Of course it’s a camera. Steve Jobs’ iPad has everything, kung-fu grip, rocket propelled grenades, GPS, complete global control?
I think they made a decision to cut the extras to make it $499.
http://blog.heliomedia.com Eric Girouard
He is holding the iPad upside down, and that is the Home button.
This is the part of the Keynote where he flipped the iPad over to demonstrate that the image rotates to the proper orientation very quickly.
He was saying that you could be looking at photos and then flip it over to show a friend in front of you and the picture would remain properly right side up.
Susan Wong
I am sure even if it is shipping with a camera, the bezels used at the launch event would have the hole blocked out completely.
Me
Y’all STFU!
Tommy T
One more thing, iPad will ship with cameras and the crowd roars!
Adam
It’s obviously either the Accelerometer or Ambient Light sensor. If you look at an iPhone in the right light you’ll see three: Ear Proximity, Accelerometer and Ambient Light. Pay attention, guys.
iFanboy
i never posted the opinion
“THATS NOT A CAMERA!!!! THATS JUST A PIMPLE.”
The REAL iFanboy says: Why don’t “you” (and I’ve emailed Leander) use your own name, or something better than ‘iFanboy’ or ‘iFanBoy’?
(and I don’t use smilies)
My view? Interesting. Looks less than a pimple: more like something that might be in the 3G-equipped iPads, which (remember?) are to ship later
Whoever “you” are, best wishes
PDM777
DO NOT GET TOO EXCITED it is a sensor…look at your iPhone 3GS in bright light there is one there also…that is how the screen adjusts in low and high light settings. UNLESS iPhone 3.2 or 4.0 is going to unlock a camera in iPhone…Hmmmmm
Juliano Rossi
i downloaded the 720p keynote version in youtube apple channel, and then watched frame-by-frame… look that image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianorossi/4323640423/sizes/o/
the first frame shows the “iSight”, and in the next frame the angle of iPad changes and we can see another really little point besides the “iSight”. So, what is it?
I bet is a LED, just like the iSight we already have on the macbooks.
Uthne
It may or may not be a iSight camera. This is probably a prototype from a small test production, there may be several variants for testing different configurations.
The “hands on” iPads presented to the press did not have a camera.
-Who da’ hell use the iSight camera anyway?
Yoo Miss d’Point
“We have bad news for you. The factory in China already have thousands of new PC TABLETS with Window7. It does offer multitasking and FLASH and more”
Hey Genius, I already have a (few) full-fledged computers, you really don’t get it do you?
@bill gates
Why would I want a tablet with a full-blown OS. I thought that we made it clear over the past decade that tablets without touch-optimized OS’s suck.
John
â€œWe have bad news for you. The factory in China already have thousands of new PC TABLETS with Window7. It does offer multitasking and FLASH and moreâ€
but then I’d have to run a full desktop OS in it with an under powered CPU and not enough RAM.
ed
well, steve jobs could just hold iPad upside down, and what you see there could be actually the button at the center – bottom.
Nick
It’s a glare.
Icedogg03
Thats not a camera, it looks like the infered sensor for the auto dimming sensor. The ipod touch has the same “dot” in the same location. Not saying that it is not possible for the camera to be there at the top. but wouldn’t make more sense to have a camera on one of the sides for landscape possition. Well in my opinon I would reather “skype” chat with the iPad in landscape. But who knows there might be a pin head camera in the center of the screen. so when you do use the web cam to chat it looks like your looking at the carmera and not looking down at your screen.
NO A CAMERA
i had it on my iphone and when it fell in a puddle it lights up in red telling up that your phone has water damage
Jesse
it’s not an iSight camera, it’s just a light sensor just like on the iPod touch or iPhone.
Dick Hertz
Why don’t you F’ing people go out to the Apple Store and find out for yourselves instead of speculating or bitching and moaning. Geeze.
Dick Hertz
And P.S. he’s holding it upside down you retards that the home button.
Michael
Its not a camera, light sensor or speck of dust, it’s the home button, wake up!
Chris
I have one of these, and i can safely say that there is no way in hell that it is the home button. Anyone who has spent more than 5 seconds looking at one of these will know that the home button is larger, and has a white square in the middle of it. Ambient light sensor? Maybe… Camera/ Camera housing, maybe… If you look at other tablets on the market, there is definitely a niche for cameras on laptops/hybrids. So we can safely assume that it is highly likely that as a money saving venture, Apple has shipped the iPad with a camera, but just like we had to wait for the iTouch blue-tooth unlocking software (And pay separately for it), there will probably will be a new software release in the future with a camera enabling routine.
Here’s hoping anyways…
Panamera
That’s NOT the Home Button. Watch the iPad announcement on YouTube.
iNick10
seriously guys, my iPad has exactly the same thing. Its a sensor :)
And “Dick Hertz”. Man, I don’t wonna be rude or anything, but stop acting like a Smart a$$, These people are doing great. They’re answering others guestion. Take Care
kiki
Mine has it too, it is a sensor
http://www.watersensor.org Water Sensor
This is so interested! Where can I find more like this?
http://www.techuelx.com techuelx
these are all fake,,,apple does or other sites…still unknown for me
Xmath279
it was only the ambient light sensor you stupid