At this rate, the iPhone might feature half a dozen camera buttons by 2030 as far as I’m concerned!
Seriously though, there’s nothing wrong with Apple finally adding truly “pro” camera features to its most coveted and expensive devices in 2025. Android devices have meanwhile grown out of those super-long periscope cameras and are currently betting on high-res sensors that allow for AI-assisted in-sensor cropping, so Apple is once again playing its favorite “catch-up” game once again.
But it’s not only the hardware that Apple is now catching up to its ‘droid rivals, the software is another aspect of the upcoming iPhone 17 line that will offer seemingly offer nothing new, at least not anything we haven’t seen already.
In fact, one of the software features that will reportedly aim to appeal to the vloggers of the world is a new camera feature that will let users capture videos with both the front and rear cameras at the same time.
iPhone’s future is Android’s past
Not a bad idea at all, but… not terribly original at all.
It was called Dual Shot and allowed you to record videos from both the front and the single rear camera. You could customize the frame for the selfie camera footage and even change its position on the screen.
Here is how the feature works in real life:
One thing is for certain, though: over the years, multiple devices have utilized a similar feature in their camera apps, sort of hidden away as a niche functionality that was usually a mainstay on Android phones hailing from mainland China, as well as Galaxies and LG devices, too.
Cupertino isn’t oozing with originality once again
Point is, Apple is seemingly once again turning to the vast collection of Android software features in order to find interesting features for its upcoming phones. Features that you simply know will make it to the bento grid that is typically shown as a summary of all new iPhones, aiming to rile up interest about Cupertino’s new, but usually same-ish flagships every September.
Don’t get this the wrong way, I have nothing against this particular camera feature in particular or iPhone users who’d love to use it on their new iPhones to showcase their roasted turkeys this Thanksgiving.
The problem is that Apple shows no signs of getting out of the creativity hole that it’s seemingly stuck in, throwing existing and random Android features at the wall and hoping most would stick.
