LG patent refers to smartphone camera with 16 lenses

The phone cameras are a kind of arms race, and LG could consider a dramatic escalation with a future phone that could include a huge 16 lenses, via LetsGoDigital.

Multiple lenses on cameras are not really new. Over the past year, we've seen telephones with two and three back-end lenses entering the consumer market, as well as rumors about Nokia's larger five-lens device and even potentially nine-camera smartphone prototype. the multi-lens start-up Light. But LG's patent would go well beyond that, with a complete network of 16 cameras.

However, unlike most multi-camera systems, including LG's V40 ThinQ, which offered different types of lenses for different effects on the same plane, the lens of multiple cameras seems to be d & # 39; offer different angles on a scene with the help of perspective. different lenses.

LG's patent also describes the combination of different camera angles to create a miniature film, a bit like an overpowering version of elements such as Live Photos of Apple or Lytro adjustable light field images. The patent also claims that it could use the different data sets of the different lenses to cut out elements of the image (for example for portrait mode or even the complete replacement of a background).

Of course, for the moment, it is only a patent, nothing indicates that LG is planning to put it in a phone. But with the ever fiercer battle to push the phone cameras to the limit, it may be only a matter of time before the hexadecimal camera is a reality.