What you need to know
- Apple's iOS 16 will make improvements to Portrait and Cinematic modes.
- The new changes will be specific to the iPhone 13 lineup.
- The iOS 16 update is set to ship to the public this fall.
Apple's iOS 16 update was announced during a WWDC22 opening keynote event on Monday and while it got plenty of stage time, some features weren't shared. Now, Apple's new preview webpage has outed additional improvements to the camera on Apple's most modern iPhones.
With iOS 16 installed, users of the iPhone 13 lineup will benefit from two specific camera improvements that will make the best iPhone for taking photos and videos even better. The first improvement relates to Portrait mode, with Apple adding the ability to control the level of blur applied to the foreground for the first time.
Portrait mode lets you blur objects in the foreground of a photo for a more realistic‑looking depth‑of‑field effect.
Those keener on capturing video will benefit from improvements to how Cinematic mode works, with Apple saying that it will now be better at dealing with the edges of hair and glasses than ever before.
When recording videos in Cinematic mode on iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro, the depth‑of‑field effect is more accurate for profile angles and around the edges of hair and glasses.
Apple is set to make iOS 16 available to the world later this year, likely in or around September. The new update is now in the hands of developers brave enough to install beta 1, while a public beta will also be made available next month — Apple is likely to want to ensure that developers report the worst bugs so they can be fixed before public beta testers get involved.
The new iOS 16 update will of course power the iPhone 14 lineup when it goes on sale around the same time, too.
