Sony making camera sensor for iPhone 5
Sony will make eight megapixel camera sensors for the iPhone 5, according to 9to5Mac. Apple is trying to make the newest camera for the upcoming iPhone the best camera on the market, and using Sony to accomplish this feat is both an ironic and interesting development.
Smartphone users are well aware of the iPhone 5’s presence, and that it could come as early as this year. Having Sony’s help on the camera might speed up the process and get the iPhone 5 released by the end of the year, which was previously thought unlikely.
9to5Mac reports that while at the JapanNYC festival, Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer subtly confirmed Apple and Sony had an arrangement for iPhone camera production. The factories that produced the cameras were affected by the tsunami, which recently devastated Japan. “Our best sensor technology is built in one of the (tsunami) affected factories, said Stringer. “Those go to Apple for their iPhones or iPads. Isn’t that something? They buy our best sensors from us?”
The Wall Street Journal later confirmed that Sony and Apple had an agreement on cameras. What makes this ironic is that Sony has a smartphone of its own that is launching, and that Apple is fast becoming Sony’s biggest competitor in both the mobile phone and gaming market. The Xperia is Sony’s version of a smartphone, which not only features Sony games, but an Android OS, and is probably the biggest threat to Apple’s dominance over the market.
