Apple Responds to iPhone 5 Camera's Purple Flare Issue

Apple has responded to reports of an iisue with the camera on the iPhone 5 where certain users claim to see a purple flare effect when using in bright sunlight.

The reports from users complain of a purple flare/haze showing up on photographs taken with Apple's newly launched iPhone 5. The issue was initially noted on AnandTech's forum, under a thread titled - iPhone 5 defective camera thread (purple flare).

According to notes on the thread, the problem arises when a user aims his/her camera at a bright light source and gradually pans the device. At that point, the purple flare shows up. This happens both in still photographs and videos.

A report of the problem was sent to Apple by a Gizmodo reader called Matt Van Gastel, who then received an answer from the Cupertino company's support desk. The e-mail exchange can be found here.

Apple's response read:

"Our engineering team just gave me this information and we recommend that you angle the camera away from the bright light source when taking pictures. The purple flare in the image provided is considered normal behaviour for iPhone 5's camera."

Gizmodo speculates the flash could be the result of the sapphire lens cover for the iPhone 5's camera. TechRadar notes it is more likely a normal distortion of light that might be caused by a chromatic aberration, while some users predict it a software problem could be causing the color imbalance.

The iPhone 5 was announced on 13 September went on sale just after a week of the announcement on 21 September in the UK. The device sports a 4in Retina Display with a resolution of 1,136 x 640 pixels with a pixel density of 326 pixel per inch (ppi). It is powered by the new A6 chip and comes pre-loaded with the newest operating system, iOS 6.

It has an 8 megapixel iSight camera featuring autofocus, LED flash, touch focus, geo-tagging, a Backside Illuminated Sensor (BSI) and face detection. The iPhone 5's camera is 25 percent smaller than the iPhone 4S's camera.