Rumor: next iPhone will get cool sensor

At least one variant of the next iPhone will have a time-of-flight sensor for storing 3D information, Fast Company claims. Earlier it appeared from iOS 14 code that such a sensor may also be on the new iPad Pro.

The cool sensor is on the back of regular cameras, a source tells Fast Company. The use of a cool sensor is obvious, because the code in iOS 14 this week already showed that the next iPad Pro will probably also get such a sensor. Apple now only deploys hardware to observe 3D on the front of iPhones; a dot projector is part of the TrueDepth camera system for Face ID and Animoji creation.

It is still unknown what exactly Apple wants to do with the cool sensor. A number of more expensive Android phones also have the sensor and use it, among other things, to improve the option to blur the background of photos and for apps that use augmented reality. Until now, Apple has used regular cameras for this.

The sensor, according to Fast Company, comes from Lumentum, the company that also supplies hardware for the TrueDepth camera system on the front of iPhones. That company, like Apple, did not comment on the story.