Apple poached the cofounder of popular iOS camera app Halide earlier this year, prompting a lawsuit from the company that developed it.
Halide, first released in 2017, gives smartphone photographers more control over their images. Its Project Zero setting allows users to bypass some of the iPhone’s automatic image processing, resulting in more natural contrast and shadows. Its most recent iteration, Halide Mark II, costs $19.99 per year or $2.99 per month.
Apple considered acquiring Lux Optics, the company behind Halide, last summer. Instead, it hired designer Sebastiaan de With. A new lawsuit filed by Lux co-founder Ben Sandofsky alleges that de With took confidential information, including source code, with him to Apple, The Information reports. The suit also says de With was fired in December for using $150,000 in Lux company funds to pay for personal expenses since 2022. De With denies it.
Last year, Apple’s interest in Lux Optics was a “top priority for the company right now,” The Information says, so the iPhone 18 Pro could “match professional-grade cameras in terms of certain advanced features.” Apple was not named in the case, just de With.
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The iPhone 18 Pro could bring some serious camera upgrades. In February, YouTuber Jon Prosser claimed that Apple would move the Dynamic Island to the top-left of the iPhone 18 Pro’s display, away from the center of the phone’s display. Prosser, who is being sued by Apple over his iOS 26 leaks, also predicted that Apple would replace the pill-shaped cutouts for its selfie camera and Face ID sensors with a punch-hole camera and an under-display Face ID sensor.
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