Apple already wanted to offer a special camera feature in the iPhone 7.
Back then, CEO Steve Jobs had the idea that it should be possible to subsequently edit photos taken with a smartphone. Adam Lashinsky reports on this in his 2012 book “Inside Apple”.
Steve Jobs met Ren Ng from Lytro
Jobs met the head of the camera company Lytro, who was currently working on this idea:
The company’s CEO, Ren Ng, a brilliant computer scientist with a PhD from Stanford, immediately called Jobs, who picked up the phone and quickly said, “If you’re free this afternoon, maybe we could meet.” Thirty-two-year-old Ng hurried after him Palo Alto, gave Jobs a demo of Lytro’s technology, discussed cameras and product design with him, and, at Jobs’ request, agreed to send him an email describing three things he wanted Lytro to do for Apple wished.
However, Lytro and Apple did not work together, but the mobile Lytro Field camera was released shortly afterwards. However, this could not prevail against the iPhone as a mobile camera.
Today vs. yesterday: post-processing portrait photos
The iPhone 15 can now edit portrait photos in detail. Thanks to software features, different people and animals can even be brought into focus – a feature that Ng certainly dreamed of when he was 10 years old.
