Samsung now wants variable aperture back, but only because Apple wants it too

According to recent rumors, Samsung Electronics has begun the process to reintroduce the variable aperture technology in the camera modules of its future smartphones.

This feature, which mechanically controls the amount of light hitting the sensor, is currently in testing with long-standing partners such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics and McNex.

However, what makes this news particularly interesting is not the technology itself, but the timing: the South Korean giant seems to have decided to revive this hardware only after persistent rumors surfaced about Apple's intention to implement it in the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro.

Samsung and the return of a technology abandoned thanks to Apple

For the more discerning market observers, this move has an ironic flavor. Samsung, in fact, was a pioneer in wide-scale adoption of variable aperture, proudly introducing it with the Galaxy S9 from 2018 and keeping it in the Galaxy S10 series from 2019.

At the time, the feature allowed taking sharper photos by physically regulating the light entry according to ambient conditions, reducing exposure during the day and increasing it at night.

However, starting with the Galaxy S20 in 2020, the company decided to completely abandon this solution. The reasons were pragmatic: the variable aperture mechanisms increased the thickness of the camera module and the production costs, without offering, according to the assessments at the time, a qualitative advantage sufficient compared with the increasingly powerful software processing algorithms.

For years, Samsung maintained that computational photography was sufficient to manage depth of field and brightness, rendering a mechanically so complex component unnecessary.

The impact of competition

The current shift in approach therefore appears to be a direct consequence of Cupertino's strategies. The leaked information suggests that Apple has finalized plans to bring the variable aperture to its flagship models, specifically the iPhone 18 series scheduled for this year.

Since Apple is preparing to integrate this feature for the first time, raising the hardware standard of the camera department, Samsung finds itself forced to chase a technology that it had itself discarded.

The logic is clear: if the main rival adopts hardware to improve light management and the naturalness of the bokeh, relying on software alone could be perceived as a competitive disadvantage.

Although digital processing has advanced by leaps and bounds, physical limits remain insurmountable in certain shooting conditions, and a return to a mechanical diaphragm offers a level of light control that no algorithm can reproduce perfectly.

Currently, the project is in the early stages of development and verification. Suppliers are sending samples to Samsung for quality tests, and although final adoption is not yet guaranteed 100 percent, the company's resolve appears firm.

Thanks to technological evolution in recent years, it is now possible to produce thinner and cheaper modules than in the past, removing the obstacles that had led to the feature's discontinuation.

That said, without the pressure exerted by Apple's plans for the upcoming iPhone, it is very likely that this technology would have remained in Samsung's engineering drawers for a long time.