While smartphone cameras continue to improve, most don’t offer any kind of variable aperture. While Samsung has developed a way to introduce this in a future device, Huawei has also designed a method, and it’s more akin to a traditional lens.
JerryRigEverything just published this 7-minute teardown video of the Samsung Galaxy S9, and one of the interesting things it reveals is the mechanical workings of the DxOMark-leading camera, which is the first smartphone camera to feature a variable aperture.
Smooth Trans Focus (STF) was invented by Minolta in the 1980s and became available in the Minolta 135mm f/2. 8 STF in 1999. The special design of the lens with an Apodization (APD) filter allows for the smoothing of out-of-focus areas, or bokeh.
Samsung has been granted a patent for what it is described as a camera with a moveable construction. The three cameras in the array are arranged in a T-shape and a motorized gear moves them in a sliding motion, which changes their aperture in the process.