To continuously improve the professional shooting experience of the iPhone's built-in camera, Apple once turned its attention to third-party camera app development teams, which are highly regarded by professional photographers.The Information websiteA document revealed in the report shows that Apple was actively negotiating to acquire a well-known camera app in the summer of 2025."Halide"The developer of Lux Optics. Although the acquisition ultimately fell through in September of the same year, Apple subsequently directly appointed Lux Optics' former co-founder as its CEO.Recruiting its design teamThis demonstrates Apple's strong ambition to drastically revamp the interface and functionality of the native iOS camera app.
Targeting professional-grade photography software, paving the way for the iPhone 18 Pro.
Lux Optics enjoys a high reputation in the iOS developer ecosystem. It owns "Halide", which focuses on professional manual control, as well as professional video recording software "Kino", long exposure application "Spectre", and "Orion", which can turn the iPad into an external screen.
The Information points out that Apple's strong interest in this small but excellent developer stems primarily from its desire to acquire its cutting-edge third-party software technology, thereby significantly upgrading the iPhone's built-in native camera app. This interest comes amid widespread market rumors that Apple will soon...The future iPhone 18 Pro seriesWith the introduction of "variable aperture" lens hardware technology for the first time in China, Apple will inevitably need a more sophisticated and intuitive software algorithm and control interface to match this major hardware upgrade.
Valuation disagreements and infighting among founders have turned into a Silicon Valley business battle.
However, this seemingly win-win acquisition ultimately fell through due to valuation considerations and personnel disputes within the startup.
The documents reveal that after evaluation, Lux Optics' two co-founders, Ben Sandofsky and Sebastiaan de With, believed that Halide's upcoming major updates would further boost the company's market valuation, and therefore decided to terminate the acquisition negotiations with Apple.
Surprisingly, shortly after negotiations with Apple ended, a serious power struggle erupted within the startup. Ben Sandofsky began investigating Sebastiaan de With, accusing him of misusing company funds; this turmoil ultimately led to Sebastiaan de With's dismissal by Lux Optics.
But this highly regarded UI/UX designer didn't remain unemployed for long—the story took a dramatic turn, and Sebastiaan de With subsequently joined Apple's design team.
Analysis of viewpoints
For Apple, Halide's most valuable asset is not its user list, but its "design philosophy" of making complex ISO, shutter speed, manual focus, and RAW file processing incredibly elegant and intuitive on the limited screen of a mobile phone.
Although the acquisition fell through, preventing Apple from directly taking over Halide's underlying code, it successfully brought co-founder Sebastiaan de With, who spearheaded the design, under its wing, effectively implanting the "brain" of this design philosophy into Apple.
While Halide will continue to operate independently as a third-party application on the App Store, it is highly anticipated that in future major iOS updates (especially in conjunction with the rumored variable aperture lens design of the iPhone 18 Pro), the professional mode interface of the native iOS camera will have a very strong and refined "Halide feel".
