iPhone 8 May Have Ability to Isolate Objects in Images, Change Depth of Photos [Report]

Apple has a team of engineers working on augmented reality features for the iPhone, reports Bloomberg. The company is also said to be working on other AR products such as digital spectacles that could connect wirelessly to an iPhone and transmit movies, maps and other information to the wearer.

Mike Rockwell, former EVP of Products and Technology at Dolby, is running the AR team with key engineers including Fletcher Rothkopf who helped lead the Apple Watch team; Tomlinson Holman who created THX, Cody White, former lead engineer of Amazon's Lumberyard virtual reality platform; Duncan McRoberts, former director of software development at Meta; Yury Petrov, former Oculus researcher; and Avi Bar-Zeev, who worked on HoloLens and Google Earth.

Apple wants to bring AR enhancements to the iPhone's camera which could include the ability to change the depth of a photo or even isolate objects.


One of the features Apple is exploring is the ability to take a picture and then change the depth of the photograph or the depth of specific objects in the picture later; another would isolate an object in the image, such as a person's head, and allow it to be tilted 180 degrees. A different feature in development would use augmented reality to place virtual effects and objects on a person, much the way Snapchat works.

To make these features possible, the iPhone 8 will reportedly gain a 'revolutionary' front camera with 3D sensing capabilities. The system is said to consist of three modules that run algorithms created by PrimeSense, an Israeli company Apple acquired in 2013.

Apple isn't expected to unveil the iPhone 8 until later this year. In the meanwhile, check out this concept that imagines a function area with virtual buttons powered by Siri AR. You can follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.

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