Apple acquires maker of mobile high-end camera modules

Apple has reportedly acquired technology company LinX. LinX develops camera modules for mobile devices that consist of various sensors and can therefore also register depth information.

Apple is paying $20 million for the company, according to The Wall Street Journal. LinX declined to respond to questions from the newspaper. Apple issued a standard statement that, according to the newspaper, indicates that it has acquired LinX. The Wall Street Journal has good sources within Apple, indicating that the acquisition has indeed taken place.

The Israeli LinX was founded in 2009. The company is headed by a duo that has been active in the camera industry for some time. One of the founders previously led a development team for image processing algorithms at Samsung. The camera modules that the company has developed in collaboration with partners are combinations of two, three or four cameras. Image information from the various sensors is combined into one image using special software. According to LinX, this merging does not cause any image errors, even if objects are photographed up close.

Apple may want to start using LinX’s camera modules in future versions of the iPhone or iPad. LinX claims its technology enables better photos. The company promises DSLR-like image quality, with less noise and better low-light performance than existing smartphone cameras. It is unclear whether that claim can be fulfilled in practice. The camera module would also be a lot thinner.

A depth map is automatically distilled from the collected image information. This offers possibilities such as automatically removing the background from a photo, creating a 3D model or resetting the focus afterwards. Phones that use different camera sensors to register depth information are not new, by the way. For example, the HTC One M8 had a second camera on board for this purpose.