How Apple Will Eradicate the Universally Hated iPhone “Camera Bump”

Apple’s phones have set the benchmark for style and design. Since the original iPhone was introduced, Apple has been on a perpetual quest to push the boundaries with the designs of their phones. Every model has become lighter, sleeker, and more beautiful.

When the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus were released in September, the look and feel of the devices impressed users – except for the “camera bump”. While users were impressed with the newer, sharper, 12-MP camera found in the 6s and 6s Plus, the lens of the camera actually protruded about 1mm from the body of the phone. Many users have been unhappy with how the “camera bump” disrupts the clean lines and sleek design of the phone, and some have complained about how the phone sits at a slight angle instead of flat when placed on a flat surface.

Now, it appears as if Apple is continuing their design quest, with plenty of rumors pointing to Apple looking to make future iPhones even thinner than they are now. While many of us can agree that the amount of power that Apple has already packed into such a thin phone is an act of engineering genius, Apple is once again looking to push the boundaries of how thin a phone can be.

Rumors surfaced in September that Apple may be looking to introduce a new, thinner headphone jack in order to reduce the space the current 3.5mm jack takes in the phone. Those rumors were later followed by talk of Apple looking to ditch the headphone jack entirely, opting instead for headphones that connect via Bluetooth or the Lightning Port. While ditching the headphone jack could theoretically allow for a thinner phone, what about the camera?

The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are clearly already too thin to accommodate the high quality camera they currently contain – if the company is looking to introduce thinner phones, how would they rectify the camera problem?

A patent granted to Apple yesterday, titled “Small form factor high-resolution camera,” describes a solution to the camera problem. Originally filed in 2013, the patent describes a camera that “includes a spherically curved photosensor and a lens system”, which would theoretically reduce the distance between the sensor and the lens – thus a thinner, but still high quality camera. The camera would utilize a concave, curved photosensor, which would allow much less distance to the rear lens element than previously possible.

The camera would employ a three lens system to correct “chromatic aberration”, a slight distortion of color that can occur with curved photosensors. Like many of Apple’s patents, it’s uncertain when we will see this technology implemented in a phone, if at all.

However, if rumors of Apple ditching the headphone jack for a thinner iPhone 7 are true, this new camera patent could be introduced in future iPhones to reduce the size of the camera while maintaining picture quality.

Learn More: Apple to Launch iPhone 5se and iPad Air 3 in the First-Half of 2016