purplehaze

Apple’s Official Response to Complaints Over Purple Flare

Apple has issued an official response to complaints over the iPhone 5's purple flaring, and it mirrors what AppleCare Support said to a customer last week. A new support document has appeared for the symptom: "A purplish or other colored flare, haze, or spot is imaged from out-of-scene bright light sources during still image or video capture."

Apple: iPhone 5 Purple Flaring Is Normal, You’re Just Holding it Wrong

Remember this photograph tweeted last week by @weaksauce12? It shows the strange purple flaring reported by many iPhone 5 users, which is being called everything from "purple haze", to "the Hendrix effect", to "Purplegate". Fingers were pointed at everything from the phone's new sapphire lens to the infrared filter -- or supposed lack of -- inside.

If you were patently waiting for a fix, you'll be disappointed to know that there doesn't appear to be one on the horizon: Apple is saying that the excessive purple flaring behavior is "normal".

iPhone 5 Has Purple Flare, Possibly the Same Issue That Plagued the Leica M8

If you were thinking about buying the iPhone 5 as your primary carry-around camera, you might want to hold off on that. Reports are emerging that the camera suffers from purple flares when bright light sources are in or around the frame. Cult of Mac reports that iPhone 5 owners are taking to online forums to express their displeasure with this issue.