IPhone XS users complain about the selfie camera to smooth the skin

Over the past week, the front camera of the iPhone XS and XS Max has been the focus of attention because the selfies captured on the new devices are very different from those captured with the iPhone models X or previous iPhone.

In one MacRumors forum and on Reddit, Apple has been accused of using a skin smoothing function or a "beauty filter" for more handsome selfies from the front camera. The effect has been demonstrated by a Reddit user in the picture below:

We discussed the problem in our recent comparison between iPhone XS Max and iPhone X, where we found the smoothing effect, but the performance of the front camera has attracted so much interest since we wanted to highlight the problem. .

When taking a selfie in a situation where lighting is far from ideal, such as indoors or outdoors in dimly lit areas, the iPhone XS Max seems to apply a drastic smoothing effect that can mask freckles, blemishes and other problems.

In the open air, the problem is less obvious, which has led to the belief that skin smoothing is due to some noise reduction techniques.

You can test the new camera yourself with an iPhone XS or XS Max and an old iPhone as an iPhone X model by taking selfies inside and out and comparing the differences between the two. . In almost all cases where the lighting is dim or erratic, the photos captured with an iPhone XS Max are very different.

It is logical that we see differences between the iPhone XS and iPhone 8, because the front cameras are different, but to our knowledge, the iPhone X and XS use the same front 7 megapixels. camera. Apple has detailed several changes to the rear-facing XS models of the iPhone, but beyond a new neural engine, no changes have been announced in the TrueDepth camera system.

As the camera is the same, Apple does something different with the way the photos are processed after being captured, which could be related to the new HDR features implemented. Apple has a new A12 chip and a next-generation neural engine that make photo processing easier for Smart HDR functionality that applies to rear and front cameras.

Disabling the HDR does not remove the smoothing effect and does not change any other camera settings. If the ultra-dermal smoothing results from an unintentional excessive reduction of noise, it must be modified by a software update. YouTuber Unbox Therapy recently introduced the problem with a series of selfies.

Although it is mainly the front camera that has been scrutinized, this is a problem that affects both forward-facing cameras and rear-facing cameras, and is not limited only to the skin. Excessive smoothing can also be observed on other images.

There has been speculation that Apple has intentionally implemented the skin smoothing feature to mimic the popular Asian beauty mode and common on some other smartphones, but it is unclear whether it 's Apple's intention.

A lot MacRumors Readers and users of Reddit have reported the problem to Apple and, since this issue has received so much attention, it is possible that changes to the front panel will be made to a future iOS update.