Photonic Engine on the iPhone: How the new camera technology works

by Johannes

With the Photonic Engine on the iPhone, Apple has further developed the function of the integrated cameras. Here we tell you what this technology does and which models are supported.

This is the Photonic Engine on the iPhone

The Photonic Engine acts as an image enhancement function when taking photos with the iPhone.

  • Like the night mode, the Photonic Engine provides better results in lower light. However, the new feature is not only active during night shots or low-light conditions, but permanently – and cannot be activated and deactivated like the night mode.
  • Apple promises a drastic increase in quality, including colours, textures and details in photos. In addition, image noise in darker areas will be eliminated by the Photonic Engine.
  • Lastly, the Photonic Engine newly introduced by Apple is an extension of the Deep Fusion feature released with iOS 13.2, which produces the best possible photo from nine images with different exposure levels. The difference is that the Photonic Engine becomes active much earlier in the whole imaging process.

On which iPhone models the Photonic Engine is available

So far, Photonic Engine is only available on the iPhone 14 model range. It is not yet known whether Apple will also support older models in the future. According to Apple, the hardware of the iPhone 14 Pro, for example, is decisive for the use of the new engine. Compared to the predecessor, the main camera, the telephoto camera and the TrueDepth camera have been improved to deliver twice the performance. The ultra-wide-angle camera is even said to deliver three times the performance in moderate light conditions. You can enjoy the Photonic Engine with the following iPhone models:

  • iPhone 14
  • iPhone 14 Plus
  • iPhone 14 Pro
  • iPhone 14 Pro Max

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