Amid an electricity blackout, an epiphany happened. Why is the flashlight in my four-year-old iPhone brighter than a barely one-year-old Samsung?
You might’ve never used it for taking photos (because you shouldn’t), but that tiny LED module beside the camera lenses may be the most underrated feature on the iPhone.
Compared to my Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (released in 2020), the Apple iPhone X’s (2017) flashlight can light up a room more evenly, with more spread, and generally has a warmer tone (although it’s hard to depict in photos).
Apple’s flashlight journey started in 2013 with the introduction of True Tone flash on the iPhone 5s, which combines one white and one amber LED in a vertical stack to take more natural-coloured portraits and accurately reflect skin colours.
Above (left): Apple September 2013 keynote debuting True Tone on the iPhone 5s
True Tone analyses the colour temperature of the shot or scene to fire the right intensity proportion of white and amber light to produce 1000 different combinations. However, this dual flash system makes it brighter, dispersed and balanced, too.
A year later, with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus redesign, Apple doubled the LED count – two white and two amber – in a circular housing.
Meanwhile, most Android smartphones from Google, Samsung, and alike still use a single white-LED module. Some manufacturers like OnePlus and Huawei have opted for dual flashlights, though.
Photos by Thai Nguyen (left) and Xavier Wendling (right) via Unplash
Subsequent iPhone iterations, from the 6s to the 12 range, have evolved its quad-LED True Tone flash to be brighter, bigger, yet more colour accurate every year.
Improvements continue today, but it’s often been underreported or unknown.
For instance, the iPhone 7 features a 50 per cent brighter flashlight than its predecessor, the 6s. In 2017, the Cupertino giant debuted Slow Sync on the iPhone 8 and the landmark iPhone X to take photos at a slower shutter speed while firing the True Tone flash quicker for more balanced and exposed photos.
Today, all iPhones from the affordable SE to the flagship 12 Pro Max feature True Tone flashes with Slow Sync. It has also expanded as an exclusive feature on iPad Pro range; Apple says it can better scan documents in low light.
So, if you’re ever in a blackout or simply need a good torch, you can trust the iPhone to deliver the right light.
The Connected by Henry Man 