Apple purchased an Israeli digital photography startup to help improve the camera in the iPhone, which has been challenged by other smartphones’ camera capabilities, The Times of Israel reported today:
On his recent trip to Israel, Apple CEO Tim Cook predicted that the company would make new acquisitions in the near future – and on Tuesday, that prediction came true, as Apple confirmed that it was buying Israeli digital photography tech firm LinX Imaging. The deal was worth about $25 million according to industry insiders quoted in the Hebrew media. LinX could not be reached for comment.
If the iPhone has been slipping in the race for the best camera against competitors from Samsung, LG, and others, as some in the media claim, the LinX acquisition could give Apple a major edge over others. Using advanced algorithms, LinX claims to have solved many of the problems inherent in the additional of small SLR-type cameras to smartphones.
The problem that LinX has been seeking to solve is how to maintain the clarity of pictures as pixels get smaller.
According to the Times:
Based in Caesarea, LinX was founded in 2011 by Ziv Attar, who has had over 15 years of experience developing & commercializing EO products for various markets and applications mainly in the consumer, medical and defense fields; and Andrey Tovchigrechko, a mathematician who has worked in the field for over a decade and a half.
The Times also noted that Apple previously purchased Anobit, “a maker of the flash memory controllers used in many Apple products, and in 2013, the company again expanded in Israel, buying motion tech firm PrimeSense.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook was in Israel in February to inaugurate the technology giant’s new research and development center in Herzliya.