LG is considering a weird smartphone with 16 rear cameras

Last week, an LG patent application was filed by the US Patent Office. It described a "mobile terminal" manufactured by LG with sixteen reversing cameras. The patent application includes a handful of sketches illustrating some of the uses of the unconventional camera network that focus primarily on post-processing. The process includes capturing multiple images across a plurality of lenses, outputting "at least one" images on the display, and provides the ability to generate a moving image using the data. Simultaneous capture of multiple photos from different angles could also broaden the perspectives of augmented reality, and it is likely that this type of material would be accompanied by imaging algorithms to link images and rotate objects transparently. .

The patent also presents the sixteen lenses positioned at different angles, capable of forming concave or convex grids, but it is unclear whether these sketches show multiple examples of how the camera network would be fixed in place for an end product. potential, or if the camera lens and a form of motorized equipment, allowing further customization.

Context: LG already has some smartphone experience with multiple cameras, and the recent LG V40 ThinQ is a great example. The device was launched with three main cameras on the back panel, and the arrangement offers augmented reality features via Google's ARCore engine. For the most part, these tools revolve around post-editing photos with emoticons and augmented reality stickers, but the smartphone featured in the recent patent seems to be much more focused on photo editing. It allows you to crop parts of captured photos at the same time and combine them for the best results. All this seems to rely on facial recognition technologies.

The Korean manufacturer was also the first to launch a smartphone with two cameras, the LG Optimus 3D, as early as 2011. The technology was perhaps ahead of its time or undercooked, because dual-camera handsets were not widespread. . so early in the life of the smartphone. That said, it is likely that even though LG was considering marketing a smartphone with sixteen rear-facing cameras, this device would be more of a niche product or a showcase of what the future could offer to mobile enthusiasts. . At the moment, smartphones seem to have an increasing number of cameras every generation or both. While dual-camera configurations may have become the norm, some manufacturers, including LG, are already pointing to devices with more than two rear-facing sensors. Maybe the trend will continue and that LG's sixteen camera smartphone will no longer look so far-fetched in the future.

Impact: For the moment, it is unlikely that this type of smartphone will be marketed in the coming year, even if the patent exists, but LG is certainly thinking about it and the manufacturers tend to think of the future, trying to determine how our current technologies could evolve and evolve. could possibly lead to. Augmented reality is apparently there for the long term, and several cameras will inevitably make it easier in one form or another.