Apple Wants Your iPhone's Camera To Be As Good As What The Pros Use
The patent was filed on Sept. 7, 2012, and could foreshadow some much-needed enhancements to Facebook albums everywhere.
The patent explains that the "bayonet attachment mechanisms" would secure a lens to the outside of an electronic device. These complicated mechanisms, attachments, apertures, and bayonets are all to say that you would be able to switch around fancy lenses that would let you take higher-quality pictures on your phone.
As Ars Technica points out, this most certainly is not the first time anyone has tried to come up with attachable lenses for phones. VicTsing offers magnetic lenses for HTC smartphones, and Sony sells aesthetically overwhelming lenses that operate like complete cameras and communicate wirelessly with Android and iOS phones.
Apple's own take on the attachable lens will most likely resemble the former option, with an external lens that uses the phone's existing sensor and storage.
While alternatives are already in the market, Apple owning the attachment would likely translate into sleeker, smaller lenses that seamlessly integrate into iOS. Especially with the iPhone expected to grow in size, interchangeable camera lenses may be just what the iPhone 6 is missing.