Camera flare has been an issue for smartphones, including iPhone forever and a day. Today we're learning that Samsung Electro-Mechanics is planning to introduce a new inkjet printing process to the manufacturing process of smartphone lens modules. If films that prevent light reflection (flare) and light overlapping (ghosting) inside the lens module are replaced with matte ink, the thickness of the lens module and camera module can be made thinner. It is expected to be first applied to the camera module for the Galaxy S26 series to be released by Samsung Electronics early next year.

The Elec further reports that the area where Samsung Electro-Mechanics is planning to introduce the inkjet printing process is the 'rib surface', which is the boundary between the lenses inside the lens module. The rib surface refers to the surface of the 'rib', which is the outer edge of the area (effective optical surface) that directly receives light from each lens.

The rib is used to fix the lens. Some of the light coming in at various angles hits the rib and reflects, and when the light reflected from the rib reaches the image sensor, image quality deterioration such as flare and ghosting occurs. For this reason, in the past, a light blocking part was created on the rib surface, which is the rib surface, to prevent light reflection from the rib.

The global smartphone market has become a new trend of light and thin 'slim' models due to upward standardization of specifications. Samsung Electronics also recently released the Galaxy S25 Edge with a thickness of 5.8mm. The thickness of existing bar-type smartphones is 7~8mm. Apple is also planning to replace the existing Plus model with a slim model in the iPhone 17 series in the second half of this year. 

It's unknown at this time if Apple could be interested in adopting this new process from Samsung Electro-Mechanics considering that they’ve used Sony for over a decade tor camera lenses.

Additionally, Largan Precision and Genius Electronic Optical, both based in Taiwan, have been named as suppliers for iPhone lens modules in previous models. Whether Apple’s current suppliers have a solution for camera flare issues for future iPhones is unknown at present.

Apple's iPhone camera technology has evolved significantly since the first iPhone in 2007, transforming from a basic 2 MP camera into a professional-grade imaging system.

Key Milestones in iPhone Camera Evolution 

• iPhone (2007) – Introduced a 2 MP rear camera with no flash or video recording.
• iPhone 4 (2010) – First iPhone with a front-facing camera, enabling FaceTime.
• iPhone 7 Plus (2016) – Introduced dual-camera system with optical zoom and Portrait Mode.
• iPhone 11 Series (2019) – Added Night Mode for low-light photography and Deep Fusion for enhanced image processing.
• iPhone 12 Pro Max (2020) – Featured LiDAR scanning for improved depth sensing and sensor-shift stabilization.
• iPhone 15 Pro (2023) – First iPhone with a periscope-style telephoto lens, enabling 5x optical zoom.
• iPhone 17 Series (2025) – Expected to introduce AI-powered image enhancement and variable aperture technology for better control over light exposure.

Apple continues to push boundaries with computational photography, machine learning enhancements, and hardware innovations.