Apple’s new acquisition may lead to better photos in it’s upcoming devices
Recently, Apple has purchased Spectral Edge, a UK-based company with the eventual goal to use Spectral Edge technology to improve the quality of images taken on iPhones. The acquisition’s financial details have not yet been disclosed, and according to the filings made to UK regulatory bodies, Spectral Edge Limited’s director was appointed to Apple corporate lawyer Peter Denwood. The startup’s fellow consultants and board members, who had previously been part of it, were laid off.
According to Crunchbase, U.K-based Spectral Edge Ltd. marks this year’s eighth acquisition of Apple and its 110th overall acquisition. The company’s most recent acquisition of iKinema, Tueo Health and Drive.ai.
The Spectral Edge technology uses infrared sensors to take photographs and match them with a regular image. In any given photograph, it combines a patented image fusion technology with deep learning algorithms to obtain more colour, detail and clarity. Apple is already working on parts of its image processing algorithm to help improve the quality of the image. The key examples of this are features such as Smart HDR and Deep Fusion.
In recent years, Apple has focused heavily on enhancing the camera quality of its iPhone and made the flagship feature of its top-end iPhone 11 Pro, launched in September, a new three-lens camera.
