Reports have come in from a number of users on platforms like Twitter and TikTok showing that the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max smartphones’ camera vibrates uncontrollably when you launch the camera function in apps like TikTok and Snapchat. ― SoyaCincau pic
By Rory Lee
Tuesday, September 20, 2022 10:16 am MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, September 20th ― Uh oh, it looks like we have a new #Gate on our hands as early iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max users are reporting a very unusual bug with their device’s camera. It shakes, well, shakes when you use the camera in third party applications.
Reports have come in from a number of users on platforms like Twitter and TikTok showing that the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max smartphones’ camera vibrates uncontrollably when you launch the camera function in apps like TikTok and Snapchat. What makes it even more sinister is the sound it makes when it shakes, because it really sounds like the optical image stabilization system (sensor shift, etc.) is banging against the walls of its camera body, creating a painful buzzing sound.
You can hear that clearly in both this TikTok and this video by YouTuber Luke Miani. With the latter you can even see the whole camera wig out. Honestly, it sounds kind of scary, especially when you can also hear the phone’s microphone picking up in this tweet User @Obeiidd. Interestingly, reports indicate that this issue doesn’t exist when you use it with the iPhone’s native camera app.
Why is this happening?
Well, until Apple officially releases a statement, it’s pretty much all conjecture, so take that with a pinch of salt. One of the key new features of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max is that they both (finally) come with upgraded 48-megapixel camera sensors and second-generation Sensor Shift image stabilization technology.
This new camera sensor is a pretty big departure from the old iPhone’s traditional 12MP camera systems, and you get a bunch of nice features like pixel binning, as well as a fancy new 2x telephoto mode that’s basically just digital zooming.
All of this, including the now 48-megapixel ProRAW capture, are exciting new features as they mean more resolution, more detail and, in theory, better low-light performance. However, it looks like you might run into a couple of entirely new camera issues with an entirely new camera system. In this case there appears to be compatibility with any existing software used to allow third party applications to use the iPhone’s camera.
A long experience with Android smartphones is that the quality of the images you get through these third-party app cameras when you use them in applications like Snapchat or Instagram or TikTok just isn’t as good as an iPhone. Although Android phone cameras are definitely as good as iPhone cameras, you won’t have the same experience with these social media apps.
That’s because it’s very difficult for app developers to optimize their apps to work with the native camera application of every single Android smartphone. That means these app developers need to find the lowest common denominator – something that’s guaranteed (sort of) to “work” on any Android device. Some suggest this is done by screen recording what your camera viewfinder sees, which sounds just awful. After all, we know that most of what a phone’s camera does well is down to the image processing, not the hardware.
The iPhone never had this problem because there were only a handful of iPhone devices and they all ran pretty much the same software. But the thing about the iPhone 14 Pro series is that it has a whole new camera, as well as a brand new “Photonic Engine” that is supposed to improve image quality. There are also features like Action mode for extreme video stabilization in action-packed sequences.
All of these are new features, both from a software and hardware perspective, so there are countless ways these can cause compatibility issues with existing social media apps. At this point, there’s no word on what the main issue is or how it might be resolved, but for all of you who have pre-ordered this smartphone, you best hope this is a software issue that can be fixed with an update .
Again, a lot of this is speculation, so take it with a grain of salt, or let me know what you think the problem is. My favorite theory, however, is this. ― Soya Cincau
