The iPhone's Next Breakthrough Features May Depend on These Technologies

For Lucy Edwards, a blind, UK-based journalist and broadcaster,

maintaining a social distance in public during the height of the pandemic was challenging.

That's why she tried People Detection, a feature within

the iPhone's Magnifier app that uses the iPhone 12 Pro's and 13 Pro's lidar

sensor to detect when others are nearby.

"I'm going to have to get used to it, but I'm really excited that I can be in

control again," Edwards said in a BBC video from 2020 documenting her experience.

Lidar, or light detection and ranging, is just one example of how the

technology inside the iPhone has evolved in the last 15 years.