∞ Sony CEO reveals details of the iPhone 5

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Apple’s new iPhone 5 will come with camera sensors built by Sony, according to the company’s CEO.

[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]Speaking with Walt Mossberg last night, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that its camera sensor facility in Japan was affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami. The end result is that anyone getting sensors from that factory will experience delays, according to 9to5mac.com.

Paraphrasing his comments, Seth Weintraub noted Stringer went on to say that “Our best sensor technology is built in one of the (tsunami) affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones… or iPads. Isn’t that something? They buy our best sensors from us?”

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is being held in June this year and while many people expected Apple to show off the iPhone 5 there, The Loop has learned that there will be no hardware released at the show.



  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=683642868 Simon Stewart

    Good news.

  • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

    Interesting. How come I haven’t know that Sony makes the camera chips for Apple’s iDevices until now?

    It was to be expected; Sony Ericsson’s camera phones always were among the best in terms of image quality.

    • Anonymous

      Actually, it’s not terribly surprising since Sony makes imaging sensors for many camera companies. They make some of Nikon’s sensors for their DSLRs, amongst many other camera makers. There aren’t that many fabs for imaging sensors.

      And considering how poorly the iPad 2′s cameras perform, it doesn’t necessarily mean Sony making them means they’ll be all that good. They make parts to whatever specifications they’re hired to make them.

      • http://mangochut.net/ mangochutney

        I was just surprised by the info, because I had never noticed that Sony was the camera chip manufacturer.
        I didn’t mean to imply everything that comes out of Sony’s chip factories is great, but the iPhone 4′s sensor is more than decent and maybe Sony will deliver even better hardware to Apple for the next iPhone.

        And you’re right, the iPad 2′s sensor is pretty bad. I tried it at an electronics retailer on Thursday and stills were only barely usable.

        • Anonymous

          Sony is not the a supplier of camera sensors for Apple.

          OmniVision supplies the sensor in iPhone 4. Sir “Stupid” Howard was being smarmy by talking about a sensor that will presumably be used in an upcoming product, i.e. iPhone 5.

          Which pretty much guarantees that Sony is going to have the contract cancelled. Talk about an idiot. Boasting about a secret contract in public when the factory that makes the part has been damaged by the tsunami, and thus can’t even supply the parts. Great way to run a business!

  • Anonymous

    This will not be good for Sony.

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    I hope it will not be the same old crappy iPhone!!..