Did Steve Jobs’ iPad Have An iSight Camera?
8:56 pm, February 1st, 2010, Leander Kahney
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.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, Apple Tablet, News, Steve Jobs, iPad | Comment on this article
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THATS NOT A CAMERA!!!! THATS JUST A PIMPLE.
iFanboy, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:00 pm
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.
howlongtoretire, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:01 pm
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…
Matt, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
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?
Arron Hunt, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:04 pm
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
Chris Burke, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Couldn’t that just be the home button and he is holding the thing upside down to show the accelerometer?
Dude, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:14 pm
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.
mark, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:18 pm
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.
Bill Gates, on February 1st, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Yeah, that’d be awesome but it also looks like a dirt spot, see there’s another on the side bezel
Sean, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:08 pm
The shot that everyone is talking about is actually at 9:23 (1:23.40 is the time left in the podcast), simple mistake.
Jared, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:11 pm
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.
Onezer, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:15 pm
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.
Eric Girouard, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:23 pm
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.
Susan Wong, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Y’all STFU!
Me, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:40 pm
One more thing, iPad will ship with cameras and the crowd roars!
Tommy T, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:57 pm
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.
Adam, on February 1st, 2010 at 10:57 pm
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
iFanboy, on February 2nd, 2010 at 2:44 am
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
PDM777, on February 2nd, 2010 at 8:04 am
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.
Juliano Rossi, on February 2nd, 2010 at 8:35 am
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?
Uthne, on February 2nd, 2010 at 9:48 am
“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?
Yoo Miss d'Point, on February 2nd, 2010 at 11:34 am
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.
@bill gates, on February 2nd, 2010 at 4:48 pm
“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”
but then I’d have to run a full desktop OS in it with an under powered CPU and not enough RAM.
John, on February 2nd, 2010 at 8:56 pm
well, steve jobs could just hold iPad upside down, and what you see there could be actually the button at the center – bottom.
ed, on February 3rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm
It’s a glare.
Nick, on February 5th, 2010 at 4:50 pm