People are complaining about the front-facing "selfie" camera on Apple's new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. In a thread on Reddit, owners of the new iPhone XS say the camera is over-processing their faces with filters that smooth out their skin.
"It's like really poor Photoshopping by someone trying to "airbrush" with no clue about how to subtly touch up a photo," one person said.
This is a feature in a lot of modern smartphones, usually called a beauty filter, though most let you adjust it or turn it off completely. Its usual purpose is to make skin look clearer, and it usually does a pretty good job getting rid of things like acne or rashes in selfie-photos — at least if you want that. Apple hasn't ever offered a so-called beauty filter, however.
Here's what's more likely happening: Apple's new cameras also focus on improving low-light photos, and smoothing out grainy images in low-light situations would cause this effect.
It's not a problem I noticed myself while testing the new iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. I like the way both cameras function, but these things usually boil down to personal preference.
Usually, skin-smoothing effects can be fixed with a software update. AppleInsider said people inside Apple are aware of the complaints and are "looking into the situation."
Apple was not immediately available to comment.
