Huawei's Dual-Camera P9 Hints at What Apple Might Have in Store for iPhone 7 Plus

The upcoming iPhone 7 Plus is rumored to feature a dual-lens rear camera. While we've gotten some hints of what Apple might look to do with the technology given its acquisition of LinX Imaging last year, we're still not entirely clear on Apple's plans and so we can look to other vendors to get a taste of what we might expect.

The Huawei P9 is the latest flagship from the Chinese company, and on the rear of the device Huawei in partnership with Leica implemented two 12-megapixel cameras. These function by taking a photo from both cameras simultaneously and combining them in software. One camera captures a normal color image, while the second takes a monochrome image that allows for more focus on the lighting of a scene. The advantage, Huawei claims, is a better overall image with higher clarity and professional camera-like quality.

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In this video featured on the MacRumors YouTube channel, we go hands-on to test how Huawei's dual-camera works, and to see whether this setup is worth the complexity and expense of implementing it. If you'd like to check out the full-resolution photos from the P9 compared to similar ones shot on an iPhone 6s, we've also shared galleries from both devices.

Huawei is not the first to use a dual-camera setup, and other vendors have used somewhat different combinations of cameras to achieve varying goals. The LG G5 uses two cameras to achieve different focal lengths, while the 2014 HTC One M8 used two cameras to allow for better depth perception.

We still have roughly two months before the expected announcement of the rumored iPhone 7, and we have yet to hear how Apple plans to use this system, but other rumored features include a slightly thinner build, faster Apple A10 processor, repositioned antenna bands, and the removal of the headphone jack.