Apple has acquired Spectral Edge, a UK-based startup whose technology could be used to improve photos taken on iPhones, and its 110th acquisition overall. Most recently, the company acquired iKinema, Tueo Health, and Drive.ai.
The company has been advancing its phone’s photo capabilities, with the most recent iPhones having multiple lenses. Spectral Edge was spun out from research done the University of East Anglia, and it has developed computational photography tech that could blend data from a standard lens and an infrared lens to enhance photo quality.
With the continued mobile phone arms race to see who can make the better camera, it’s easy to see why Apple wanted to buy a company with tech that can improve photos this dramatically.
There’s always the chance a future iPhone could have one. But sometimes, Apple acquires companies just for the talent, and perhaps Apple has put the Spectral Edge team to work on some other photo-enhancing project. The company rarely (actually, almost never) explains why it acquires smaller companies, and the eventual results of such deals can sometimes take years to manifest. It’s unclear how much Apple paid for Spectral Edge, but the company raised $5.3 million in a funding round last year, so it was likely on the smaller side.
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