iPhone 12 Pro to Feature ‘Enhanced’ Night Mode, ‘Advanced’ Noise Reduction, and More

Apple will allegedly unveil the iPhone 12 lineup sometime in October, and according to the most recent leaks there are a lot of interesting camera improvements coming our way, especially if you go with one of the “Pro” models.

The latest leaks come from tech analyst Jon Prosser of FRONT PAGE TECH, who tweeted some screenshots that allegedly come from a PVT (product validation test) iPhone 12 Pro Max. PVT models are one of the last pre-product steps before moving into full-production, so what you see here should be almost ready for prime-time… and what we’re seeing looks very interesting.

The screenshots show several new camera features, including “Enhanced Night Mode,” “Advanced Noise Reduction,” “Enable Bit Depth Video,” “Enable Zoom Capabilities,” and “Enable LiDAR CA”… which is code for LiDAR-assisted autofocus and subject detection.

You can see the screenshots for yourself below:

As you can see from the description in the settings, “Enhanced Night Mode” will allow the phone to capture even longer stacked exposures—sort of like Google’s Astrophotography Mode—but it will only be available with a tripod or “when the device is on a steady surface.”

No details are given about Advanced Noise Reduction or Enhanced Zoom Capabilities, but the other big reveal is the addition of 4K/240p video, at least on this particular pre-production model.

Based on this and other rumors that have come out, it seems many (if not most) of the camera improvements coming to the iPhone 12 will be software-based, and probably powered by on-board AI. The ability to capture even better low-light images, the ability to capture even higher-quality 4K footage, and the (we’re speculating) ability to zoom in further by creating hand-held multi-shot images would all be welcome additions to the iPhone photography feature set.

You can dive deeper into these camera leaks and more in Prosser’s video below:

That’s all we know for now, but we expect more leaks to spring between now and the official announcement in October, so stay tuned.

Sadly, due to supply chain challenges caused by the COVID pandemic, Apple is expecting some delay in the actual shipping of the iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max models. Even so, we’re hoping to have the latest iPhone “Pro” in-hand in time for the holidays, so we can see just how “advanced” and “enhanced” these new camera features really are.

(via Digital Trends)


Image credits: Header photo by Daniel Romero, CC0

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