As Apple prepares to launch its upcoming iOS 15 operating system to millions of iPhone users this autumn, the latest beta for the update has seemingly improved how users’ iPhones take and process photos in certain lighting conditions.
The camera hardware inside iPhones plays an important role in the quality of photos that users can take with their iPhones, but another factor affecting image quality is the iPhone’s on-device processing done by the Image Signal Processor, or ISP.
In the latest iOS 15 beta, Apple has possibly improved iPhone processing when users take photos in conditions where lens flare is sometimes an unwanted artifact. The change was first brought to light on Reddit and further publicized by the popular iPhone camera app Halide on Twitter.
Two side-by-side photos appear to show that Apple removes lens flare from photos during post-photo processing on the newest beta. The photo below shows the final still shot from a Live Photo without lens flare.
This is not a change Apple has promoted or commented on, so it’s not clear what exactly is going on. However, the latest beta can be improving the system that the iPhone uses to detect different indoor and outdoor scenes, and using that information to compensate and remove unwanted lens flare.
One Reddit user points out that they could see noticeable lens flare after taking a photo on their iPhone 12 Pro. When revisiting the image later on in the day, though, they noticed it had automatically been removed from the photo.
iOS 15 is still in beta testing with developers and public beta testers and won’t be available to all iPhone users until later this fall. Apple is also testing iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, watchOS 8, and tvOS 15.
Sean Lee 
Tech leakers 
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