LG Innotek Has a "Camera Bump"-Free Module, But Not Used in iPhone 15

"It seems like the iPhone camera bump is getting worse every year."

LG Innotek, whose client Apple accounts for over 70% of its total sales, has commercialized a high-magnification optical continuous zoom camera module that can prevent the so-called "camera bump" (where the camera protrudes from the phone). However, it has been revealed that this product was not adopted in the latest iPhone.

On the 13th, the official domestic release date of the iPhone 15 series, customers are experiencing the products at the Apple Store Myeongdong in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

On October 17, iPhone 15 buyers continued to point out that the "camera bump" issue, which was one of the main drawbacks of the previous iPhone 14, remains unchanged in the iPhone 15, causing inconvenience. Within the IT industry, the prevailing view was that Apple would have minimized the camera bump in the iPhone 15 by applying folded zoom technology.

Folded zoom refers to a technology that uses a prism to bend light and deliver it to the image sensor, thereby increasing the focal length and allowing distant objects to be photographed. As customer demand for capturing faraway subjects more clearly has grown, the adoption of folded zoom technology has become a trend among premium smartphones. Generally, as the zoom magnification increases, the size and thickness of the camera module covering it also increase. This makes the camera bump inevitable.

Apple applied folded zoom technology to the iPhone 15 but used a different camera module from LG Innotek. If the newly developed high-magnification optical continuous zoom camera module had been used, the camera bump could have been eliminated, but it was not adopted. Currently, LG Innotek is known as the only company among smartphone camera module manufacturers that can implement folded zoom technology in a high-magnification, optical continuous zoom format without causing a camera bump.

An LG Innotek employee is showcasing a 'high-magnification optical continuous zoom camera module.' When this product is applied to a smartphone, it allows seamless switching between 4x to 9x zoom ranges with a single module, enabling clear and sharp photos and videos.

In January of this year, LG Innotek unveiled its high-magnification optical continuous zoom camera module at CES 2023, the largest IT and home appliance exhibition held in Las Vegas, and received an Innovation Award. The high-magnification optical continuous zoom module is an ultra-compact component that brings the telephoto camera functionality, previously used mainly in professional cameras like DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, to smartphones. Its strength lies in enabling optical zoom photography across a 4x to 9x range with a single module. By minimizing the module’s thickness, LG Innotek completely eliminated the camera bump. The company achieved a slim module height by applying a "D-cut design" technology, which cuts off the protruding part of the circular lens and shapes it into a flat, D-shaped form.

Since unveiling the high-magnification optical continuous zoom camera module earlier this year, LG Innotek has been working to secure more clients for broader smartphone adoption. However, aside from Sony of Japan, which was the initial client, no additional clients have been secured yet. Nevertheless, the industry consensus is that, since no other company besides LG Innotek offers a camera module with high-magnification optical continuous zoom capabilities that also solves the camera bump issue, it is only a matter of time before Apple adopts LG Innotek’s product.

An industry official stated, "Apple is one of those companies that prefers to adopt new components only after the market has built trust in related products, rather than being the first to implement the latest parts." The official added, "Given the significant customer dissatisfaction with the protruding camera, there is a strong possibility that Apple will consider introducing new components to address the camera bump issue starting with the iPhone 16, which is set to be released next year."