Die Frontkamera ist die "Apple-typische" Innovation, die ich auf dem iPhone 17 sehen möchte.

Although the iPhone 17 this year does have quite good product capabilities, most of its new features are actually old features that have "arrived late", such as high - refresh rate on the standard version and the "telephoto" long - focal lens.

However, there is a new feature that comes standard across the entire series, which made the otherwise dull press conference venue burst into enthusiastic applause. That is - the Center Stage front - facing camera.

After watching the entire press conference, I believe that this is indeed the most interesting "innovation" on the iPhone 17 series.

It can capture no matter how you hold it

The name "Center Stage" can easily be confused with the same - named feature on Mac and iPad. After enabling this feature, the front - facing cameras of these devices will use the recognition ability of AI algorithms to keep the user always in the center of the viewfinder.

The new "Center Stage" on the iPhone 17 is more powerful than that on the Mac. In addition to automatically tracking the user's face, it also automatically changes the camera's aspect ratio to fit the people in the viewfinder.

Actually, a similar feature was already present on previous iPhones. When the phone detected many people in front of the front - facing lens, it would automatically turn on the ultra - wide - angle mode to include more faces in the frame.

But the stronger ability of the iPhone 17 is that even if you hold the phone vertically, the aspect ratio can still change horizontally. It doesn't simply crop a horizontal image from a vertical photo. Instead, the phone can directly take horizontal photos with no loss of image quality even when held vertically.

Moreover, the camera can also automatically switch from a vertical aspect ratio to a horizontal one to accommodate more people after detecting multiple faces.

Although this feature seems quite magical, there are some skeptical voices questioning that it is "innovation for the sake of innovation". After all, when you need a horizontal aspect ratio for a selfie in daily life, you can simply turn the phone horizontally, and the effect would be the same, right?

Originally, I didn't really see the charm of this feature either. But then I found that many users on Xiaohongshu are very looking forward to it and even hope to have this feature on other devices. Of course, due to hardware limitations, this is impossible.

The reason why people like it is very simple: When you hold the phone horizontally, the camera is often off - center, making the frame and the person's face look less natural. Shooting vertically can largely avoid this problem.

The photo on the left was taken using Center Stage, and the effect is more natural. Image source: MKBHD

As phones are getting heavier and screens are getting larger, holding the phone horizontally has become quite inconvenient. Sometimes, you also need to make a "V" gesture with your other hand. Users with smaller hands often can't even reach the shutter button.

Center Stage also works well with the "Camera Control" button. This button is located lower on the phone body, which is convenient for vertical use. But it's easy to shake when using one - handedly or in horizontal mode. Now, you can take horizontal selfies in vertical mode, and your thumb can easily press the button.

If this feature can be opened for third - party use, it can not only work well with third - party selfie camera apps like BeautyCam, SnapChat, and Instagram, but also solve the current problem of switching between vertical and horizontal screens during live - streaming.

This somewhat "counter - intuitive" solution essentially reflects a philosophy of product and intelligent interaction: Instead of making users manually adapt to the physical limitations of the phone, the phone can actively change to meet the users' needs.

This is also what we expect from AI.

Comparing with the Google Pixel 10 released some time ago, we can see two different interaction ideas: Google's "Photo Guide" uses AI to provide steps for users to follow manually step by step, while Center Stage will select the aspect ratio for you, and you just need to press the shutter.

Of course, the difficulty levels of the two solutions are not the same, but Apple's concept is indeed more advanced. To make your selfies so easy, Apple really put in some effort this time.

A square sensor with great power

Taking a high - quality horizontal photo with the phone held vertically sounds quite sci - fi, but the principle behind it is surprisingly simple: Apple has prepared a "square" CMOS sensor for the iPhone 17.

Traditional phone camera CMOS sensors all have a 4:3 vertical rectangular ratio, which is also the default ratio of the phone camera's viewfinder. In this ratio, whether you shoot horizontally or vertically, you can use 100% of the sensor's pixels.

But if you want to take a horizontal photo with the phone held vertically, the frame has to be cropped. And due to the ratio issue, only a small part of the sensor's pixels will be used, greatly reducing the clarity of the photo.

Apple has prepared a 24 - megapixel square sensor for the front - facing camera of the iPhone 17. Whether you crop it vertically or horizontally, it can produce photos with 18 megapixels in the regular 4:3 ratio, which is even higher than the 12 - megapixel front - facing camera of the iPhone 16.

Cropping a more common 4:3 photo from a 1:1 (4:4) sensor

Of course, the downside is that when taking 4:3 selfies, you can't fully utilize the 24 - megapixel sensor, which always gives a feeling of not being "perfect".

But the square CMOS can not only enable the more convenient operation of "taking horizontal photos vertically", but the extra sensor space also allows the front - facing video recording on the iPhone 17 to have more stable anti - shake capabilities.

The last time we heard about a "square CMOS" was in DJI's Osmo 360 panoramic camera. Interestingly, it and the square CMOS on the iPhone 17 represent two completely different technical routes.

The DJI Osmo 360 is a panoramic camera, and the actual image is a circle. The unused areas around not only waste costs but also increase power consumption and affect the size. So DJI customized a square one - inch sensor to best match the circular imaging area of the panoramic lens, which is like "tailoring clothes according to the body".

Describing the square CMOS on the iPhone 17 as "a powerful but bulky solution" is more appropriate: In the precious screen cut - out area, Apple has stuffed a sensor that is almost twice the size of the previous generation, but the image quality improvement is only 50%, just to break the limitations of selfie composition.

This is also an important reason why it took so long to appear. For domestic manufacturers that are highly competitive in imaging, this technology means that the parameters of the front - facing camera cannot be pushed to the extreme. A larger - sized sensor also goes against the trend of manufacturers trying to reduce the screen cut - out.

Luo Wei, the chief imaging engineer of Honor

Suppliers generally only provide two mainstream CMOS configurations, 3:2 and 4:3. Only leading manufacturers like Apple have the courage and strength to customize special - specification components and use them in mass - produced products.

The square CMOS is a quite "Apple - flavored" innovation. While the industry generally pursues piling up parameters and configurations in product iterations, Apple has keenly sensed the pain points in user experience and innovated from the user's needs.

Let the features come to the users

So, can such a great square CMOS only be used in the front - facing camera?

At least it's unlikely for the rear - facing camera of traditional smartphones to switch to a square CMOS. Compared with the front - facing camera, the rear - facing camera is more important, and there is a higher pursuit of parameters. A square CMOS that can't be fully utilized is a waste of the precious space inside the phone.

The lens module of the iPhone 15 Pro Max

In the current video era, the 16:9 aspect ratio is becoming more and more popular. Using a square CMOS with this long and thin aspect ratio will waste more pixels.

Different from selfies, which are a shooting method that emerged in the smartphone era, we are already used to holding a horizontal camera with both hands, framing the shot in the viewfinder, and pressing the shutter with both hands. Smartphones that want to be like cameras will naturally adapt to this well - established and perfected photography logic.

Beyond conventional smartphones, some products with a more "futuristic" form may be more suitable for a square CMOS.

For example, a foldable iPhone?

According to a mock - up image made by MacRumors based on rumors, the folded size of the foldable iPhone will be more square than an ordinary phone. This makes it less convenient to hold horizontally when taking selfies with the external front - facing camera. Therefore, it is very suitable to use a square CMOS to freely take horizontal and vertical photos.

Another device where it's difficult to adjust the device orientation to change the photo ratio is smart glasses.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is internally developing a pair of smart glasses similar to Ray - Ban Meta. The main highlight is that it has a camera that can take photos and videos