GoKawiilApple’s component suppliers are beginning production for iPhone 18 parts, and a new report says this includes elements of a brand new camera feature for the iPhone 18 Pro.
Specifically, China’s Sunny Optical has reportedly begun manufacturing a key component needed to control the iris in the lenses in the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max …
iPhone 18 Pro variable aperture lenses
You can find a detailed explanation with examples in an explainer we wrote a couple of years ago, but the executive summary of the key benefit is the ability to control the depth of field (DoF) in a photo.
You can have a shallow DoF when you want to isolate a person from the background, a medium DoF when you want isolation while ensuring the background is still recognizable, or a deep DOF when you want everything in shot to be in focus, as in a landscape or cityscape shot. (Shallow DoF is the effect that Portrait mode emulates in software.)
Apple including a variable aperture lens in an iPhone has been expected for years, but there is now good evidence that this is the year.
Sunny Optical started production
With every new iPhone, Apple has to work backwards in its supply chain. A camera module requires the individual cameras within it; each camera requires a lens; and for variable aperture lenses, an actuator is required to open and close the iris.
The further back you go in this chain, the earlier production has to begin. Sunny Optical needs to make the actuators now in order for LG to assemble the camera modules from around June, and that’s what ET News reports today.
China’s Sunny Optical has started manufacturing actuators for Apple’s variable-aperture camera. An industry official with knowledge of the matter said, “The actuator manufacturer has recently started manufacturing parts, and LG Innotech will start manufacturing camera modules around June to July this year.”
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