• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, April 15, 2015

The next big area of mobile differentiation will be high-technology cameras with sophisticated 3D capabilities, judging by such recent developments as Apple’s acquisition of LinX, along with reports of major investments made in Movidius, a tech company specializing in mobile visual processing.

Apple paid around $20 million for LinX, an Israeli company that creates multi-aperture cameras capable of taking both 2D and 3D images, according to The Wall Street Journal. The LinX cameras are much smaller than other cameras with similar capabilities currently on the market. If integrated into the next model iPhone or iPad, LinX’s technology could allow users to create a deep 3D image and then refocus it to bring forward different elements, WSJ reports.

Meanwhile Movidius announced that it has raised $40 million in a new round of funding led by Summit Bridge Capital. The company’s technology is used in mobile devices for compression, processing, and editing video, including 3D content and various applications in mobile games. Ultimately Movidius aims to “mirror human vision capabilities,” according to CEO Remi El-Ouazzane. Movidius has now raised a total of $86.5 million over five rounds of funding.