Since the release of the iPhone 5, users have been coming out of the woodwork (as per usual) with grade-A “first world problems” that their new phone is stricken with. The latest of these minor issues is a purple flaring effect that occurs when the iPhone 5 camera catches a glimpse of comparatively harsh light sources.
Some professional photographers have already chimed in saying that it is most likely due to the sapphire lens-coating, but that’s only speculation for now.
An Apple Tech Support employee added some fuel to the fire today, saying that it is “normal behaviour” for the iPhone 5. He also said something that may be in poor taste for an Apple employee, insinuating that the user may be angling the device inefficiently.
This suggestion that an issue is the user’s fault rather than the hardware’s is nothing new – when antennaegate first reared its ugly head, Apple’s response was something along the lines of, “you’re holding it wrong.” It seems that the company is taking a similar stance with this latest issue. Here’s the quote:
[W]e 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 behavior for iPhone 5′s camera.
Personally, my iPhone 4 has had the “green blob” issue since day one, and I have been through several replacement units. I was pretty upset when I brought it in to the Apple store and I was simply told “they all do that,” and given no solution.
Two years later, I got over it and now just use colour-correcting software to fix the issue if I need to. This issue seems a little bit more serious, however, and could ruin some potentially awesome vacation photos.
With all that being said, this seems like one of those issues that has always been there and just went unnoticed. I took this picture (above) on July 11th, 2008 with my iPhone 3G.
It’s a beautiful picture in my opinion, but the lighting did not look like that in real life. Other users have reported having this purple flare issue on their iPhone 4S, as well.
What do you guys think? Have you been experiencing this ‘purple flare’ issue, and if so, on which iPhone? Let us know in the comments below!
