The news comes from Daring Fireball's John Gruber, who in a recent episode of The Talk Show claimed that he heard "from a birdie of a birdie" that the Cupertino-based company is working on significant camera improvements for the next iPhone.
The Tech Block quotes Gruber to say, "The specific thing I heard is that next year camera might be the biggest camera jump ever. I don't even know what sense this makes, but I've heard that it's some kind of weird two-lens system where the back camera uses two lenses and it somehow takes it up into DSLR quality imagery."
Gruber's speculation becomes interesting considering that Sony, which has been a supplier of camera sensors for iPhones, recently unveiled a 21-megapixel
Exmor RS IMX230 sensor, and is claimed to deliver real-time HDR in both still images and 4K video recording, apart from a compact size.
Sony claimed that the new Exmor RS IMX230 is industry's first CMOS image sensor for smartphones that will boasts of an onboard image plane phase detection autofocus with 192 autofocus points for high-speed autofocus, similar to what is found in current-generation mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras and DSLRs.
Further, Gruber's "two-lens system" also tips that the company might use a dual camera setup, something that was seen in HTC's last flagship, the HTC One (M8).
HTC's developer site details the HTC dual lens system as, "Duo Camera utilizes a dual lens and sensor configuration coupled to a 'next-gen' ISP and CPU. Two independent lenses allow it to detect and calculate the relative distance of subjects in the image. The imaging system then assigns properties to each individual pixel, which allows them to be re-purposed and reprocessed to maximize image quality."
MacRumors speculates that the two lens setup that Apple might use can be from Corephotonics. The company develops state of the art solutions based on algorithms and novel compact camera designs and components. Notably, Corephotonics showcased its dual camera set up at the MWC 2014 and here's a video from CNET showing the technology.