Samsung may be making a major upgrade to the iPhone 16's camera. According to Korean news site The Elec, Apple is in the process of final quality evaluation of a CMOS sensor provided by Samsung System LSI, which will be used in the iPhone 16 series' main camera.

This is a notable change for Apple, which typically sources its camera sensors from Sony. However, the report suggests that Apple is shifting away from Japanese suppliers due to reliability concerns and the need to add more advanced technology to the iPhone's camera system.

The Elec also reports that Apple asked Sony to develop new image sensors last year, but Sony dropped the ball and reportedly failed to deliver them in a timely manner. This one incident reportedly caused problems when Apple was trying to set a release date for the iPhone 15. Assuming that Samsung's sensors can match Apple's notoriously high standards, this means that Sony could pull out.

Elec claims that Samsung's new sensor features a more advanced three-wafer stack design that houses different elements on each wafer, including photodiodes, transistors, and analog-to-digital converter logic.

The current iPhone camera sensor is only a 2-wafer stack, with the photodiode and transistor sharing one. However, separating the components means higher pixel density, reduced noise, and smaller pixel size, resulting in better overall photo quality.

Samsung's technology also uses "wafer-to-wafer" bonding, where three wafers are attached to a copper pad. This reportedly eliminates the need for bumps for signal transmission, allowing for faster data transfer speeds and smaller image sensors.

According to rumors, the iPhone 16 will also get a resolution boost this year, offering the same 48MP camera as the iPhone 15 Pro. 1/1.14" (0.87"), which should provide brighter, more colorful images.

The iPhone 16 Pro may also enjoy a higher-resolution 48MP ultra-wide-angle camera, but non-Pro models will reportedly leave this lens at 12MP for a year. iPhone 16 Pro may also benefit from a tetra prism telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom. All four models are said to be able to record spatial video for the Apple Vision Pro headset.

The iPhone 16 series is expected to be unveiled at the Apple September event in the fall. Until then, you can check the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max hubs for the latest news and rumors.