Moved iPhone 5 Camera Flash Does Not Make Sense

I’ve often wonder why Apple has decided to move the iPhone’s camera LED flash so far away from the camera lens. Some have reported that perhaps this is to reduce the problem of red eye in photos. Michael Nace at iPhone 5 News Blog seems to disagree.

One of the reasons why the flash has been placed so close to the iPhone 4’s lens is because since it is an LED flash, it is not as powerful as a Xenon flash meaning that in order for the flash to work properly it would have to be situated near the lens. So for the next iPhone to move the lens so far away from the lens could either mean that either the next generation’s iPhone will be sporting a Xenon flash or Apple has come up with a more powerful version of the LED flash.

The iPhone 4 has its fair share of problems with the flash and the photos that were taken which resulted in discoloration which has been blamed on iPhone 4 cases being hastily redesigned around the iPhone 3GS cases which caused the cases being too close to the flash, partially concealing it thus resulting in discoloration. However newer iPhone 4 cases have fixed that problem giving plenty of room for the camera’s flash, so wouldn’t positioning the flash further away from the image sensor cause the same problems too?

While this is entirely just an opinion, Michael Nace does make some pretty solid points. Of course we can’t forget that so far all the purported leaks of iPhone 5 parts and casings have just been rumors, all of which are to be taken with a grain of salt. Any pro photographers out there who care to share their opinions, thoughts and expertise on this matter?