Next year's iPhone may come with triple-lens camera (2019)

iphone-x-web-9073 — Dual lenses on the iPhone X.
Charles Archivong/Zealnetworks

Apple is reportedly working on an iPhone with a triple-lens camera for 2019, according to Taiwanese publication Economic Daily News(via MacRumors). Citing industry sources, the report claims that the next iPhone will include three 12-megapixel rear lenses with 5x zoom.

Having three rear cameras would be a stark contrast and upgrade from any previous generation of iPhones, including the iPhone Xand iPhone 8 Plus, and it may bring a whole set of new features that weren't previously possible on a dual-camera phone.

Both current iPhones come with dual 12-megapixel rear cameras, 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, though the report doesn't specify whether this upcoming iPhone's supposed 5x zoom refers to optical zoom, digital zoom or a hybrid of both.

Still, with the release of a 2019 iPhone so far in the future, it's best to take this report with a grain of salt.

In the meantime, there are only a couple of Android phones that have more than two rear cameras -- a trend we might be seeing more of. The most recent and mainstream is the Huawei P20 Pro, which features a 40-megapixel, 20-megapixel and 8-megapixel lenses.

Another is the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro. Launched in 2016, the camera runs Google's AR Tango software and its third lens is actually an infrared camera that measures depth and distances. Finally, there is the niche Light L16 phone, which is outfitted with a whopping 16 13-megapixel cameras.

Watch this: Huawei P20 Pro is the first phone with 3 rear cameras

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Slapping on an extra camera may be considered a gimmicky party trick from phone manufacturers, but camera quality remains a strong factor for consumers when deciding which phone you buy.

Keep in mind, however, that a phone's ability to capture images and record video doesn't just come down to its lens count and megapixels. Image rendering software, lens sensors, HDR algorithms, optical image stabilization and other factors are all important for how a phone's camera performs, and not just how it reads on paper. For more on which phones take the best photos, check out our best camera phones for 2018.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.