OIS helps to counteract camera shake, meaning shots are more likely to come out in focus while also improving low light performance, and a leaked image obtained by Nowhereelse.fr suggests the iPhone 7 might feature it.
OIS is built-in to many high-end smartphones, including the Samsung Galaxy S7 and HTC 10, but so far Apple has only included OIS in the larger iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6S Plus handsets.
Yet as you can see in the image comparison above, the alleged iPhone 7 camera module has a key thing in common with the cameras on Apple's phablets – namely the four little cut-outs around the lens.
An
obvious explanation
On
the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6S Plus these cut-outs house components required
for OIS, which is why they're missing from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S camera modules. It's possible that the cut-outs serve a
different purpose on the iPhone 7, but OIS is the most obvious explanation for
them.
Of course it's also possible that
the entire image is showing a fake component, especially as the shape of the
module is quite different to previous iPhone cameras, but Nowhereelse.fr has a
good track record for leaks and this isn't the first we've heard of OIS in the iPhone 7.