The Chinese electronics company Anker is reportedly planning to release an Apple-approved external flash for smartphones, so the iPhone 11 you got for Christmas can be used more like a camera.
The new photography gadget dubbed "iPhone LED Flash" isn't available on Anker's website yet, but the new iPhone add-on should be available for $49 in January. You'll be able to find it on Anker's website and from Amazon, the Verge reports.
While external flashes have existed for smartphones for quite some time, the release from Anker is significant because it was reportedly developed through Apple's Made-for-iPhone (MFi) program.
That means it can work with iPhones' native camera app and other third-party apps found in the iOs store. It can also operate as a standalone light.
The external flash will only work with iPhone 11 and 11 Pro, and it delivers twice the range and four times the brightness of the flash baked into the back of Apple's smartphones, according to details listed on Anker's community forum.
The external flash looks like a cube with rounded edges attached to a Lightning cable. It comes with a detachable diffuser and a mount so it can connect to other camera accessories.
At full charge, the device should power up to 10,000 flashes, Anker says.
The Apple-certified flash arrives on the heels of a 9to5Mac report which said that Apple sent specs to manufacturers on how to create approved external lighting accessories like strobes and flashes.
The specs "allow an accessory's strobe or lighting component to sync with the device's integrated flash and also relay the strobe sync signal wirelessly to additional accessories," 9to5Mac reported.
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