Apple has introduced the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone 7 series, the first water and dust resistant iPhone, will be available in more than 25 countries beginning September 16. The iPhone 7 features a 12-megapixel camera with a f/1.8 aperture and 6-element lens. The iPhone 7 Plus features the same 12-megapixel wide angle camera as iPhone 7 and adds a 12-megapixel telephoto camera that together offer optical zoom at two times and up to 10 times digital zoom for photos. Coming later in 2016, the dual 12-megapixel cameras also enable a new depth-of-field effect, using both cameras on iPhone 7 Plus to capture images, while sophisticated technology including Machine Learning separates the background from the foreground.

Samsung Electronics has unveiled removable memory cards based on the JEDEC Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 1.0 Card Extension Standard for use in high-resolution mobile shooting devices such as DSLRs, 3D VR cameras, action cams and drones. Samsung's UFS cards come in storage capacities of 256, 128, 64 and 32 GB. The new 256GB UFS removable memory card provides more than five times faster sequential read performance compared to that of a typical microSD card, reading sequentially at 530MB/s which is similar to the sequential read speed of the most widely used SATA SSDs. With this UFS card, consumers have the ability to read a 5GB, Full-HD movie in approximately 10 seconds, compared to a typical UHS-1 microSD card, which would take over 50 seconds with 95MB/s of sequential reading speed. Also, at a random read rate of 40,000 IOPS, the 256GB card delivers more than 20 times higher random read performance compared to a typical microSD, which offers approximately 1,800 IOPS. When it comes to writing, the new 256GB UFS card processes 35,000 random IOPS, which is 350 times higher than the 100 IOPs of a typical microSD card, and attains a 170MB/s sequential write speed, almost doubling the top-end microSD card speed. To shoot 24 large/extra fine JPEG photographs (1,120MB-equivalent) continuously with a high-end DSLR camera, the 256GB UFS card takes less than seven seconds, compared to a UHS-1 microSD card which typically takes about 32 seconds, at 35MB/s.

Samsung Electronics has announced a 12-megapixel image sensor for smartphones. Already in mass production, this 1.4 micron-pixel-based image sensor is equipped with Dual Pixel technology that has been reserved for DSLR cameras. Samsung's new image sensor with Dual Pixel technology employs two photodiodes located on the left and right halves of a pixel, while a conventional image sensor dedicates less than 5% of its pixels, with one photodiode each that converts light particles into measurable photocurrent for phase detection. As each and every pixel of the Dual Pixel image sensor is capable of detecting phase differences of perceived light, significantly faster auto-focus has become possible. The image sensor has also adopted Samsung's ISOCELL technology, which isolates the photodiodes in each pixel with a physical wall to further reduce color cross talk, maximizing the image sensor's performance. For top-of-the-line performance while keeping the size to a minimum, the new image sensor is built with cutting-edge chip-stacking technology. The Dual Pixel image sensor stacks a 65nm sensor and 28nm logic chip together to deliver outstanding photo-taking experiences in today's sleek smartphones.