Producing sufficient quantities of its 3D depth sensing camera has reportedly been a big pain point when it comes to iPhone X production, but possibly not as much of a pain as it’s likely to be for Android makers.
According to a new report, low yield rates during production for Apple’s 3D sensing modules have caused Android-based smartphone brands to delay their own plans for new smartphone models with 3D sensors.
The 3D sensor is one of the most intriguing elements of the iPhone X, and is a great example of Apple snatching back some of the lead that it has arguably been losing to some of its closest rivals when it comes to mobile technology. It’s such a “must have,” in fact, that Chinese companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo were all rushing to release similar models in late 2017.
Unfortunately for them, the inability of manufacturers to produce sufficient quantities of the components for Apple — let alone its rivals — mean that these plans have had to be pushed back to 2018. Given the amount of time that it will also take to develop the necessary software and apps to support these components, Apple (even with its delays) should stay comfortably ahead of the competition.
A previous report from established Apple watcher KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s 3D sensing tech puts it a solid two years ahead of its rivals.
How much of a selling point is Apple’s depth-sensing 3D camera sensor for the new iPhone? Leave your comments below.
Source: Digitimes
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
2 responses to “Android won’t be ripping off iPhone’s 3D sensors anytime soon”
Wish they had a version of the iphone 8 with this sensor. The OLED screen will suffer from burn-in after two years or so (this is unsolved in academia, exciton energy spontaneously decomposes organic molecules due to the high energy required to make blue light, this is why all blue light currendly uses inorganic LEDs at the edge), so getting the iphone X that has accurate color for a year or two is too much of a cost burdon for a non-rich person.
“The 3D sensor is one of the most intriguing elements of the iPhone X” its the only one thats intriguing. Everything else has already been ripped off by Apple. A company that is in full reactive mode to what android is putting out. A company that has to sacrifice UX/UI by adding an ugly notch to the phone to make it unique, otherwise it would look like exact ripoff of the bezel less android phones that came long before it.