A man holds an iPhone 6 in a mobile phone shop in Moscow September 26, 2014.
IN PHOTO: Personal files are now stored using cloud. Too, relationships are built and strengthened via applications in cloud. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

The next iPhone, which could be the iPhone 6S or 7, lined up for future release date will likely banner a killer camera that sports a rear shooter laced with a 21-megapixel image sensor that Sony just unveiled.

Apple is known to use Sony-made sensors on its iPhone and iPad models that it is highly likely Sony's fresh Exmor RS IMX230 sensor will eventually make it to the upcoming iteration of the devices, MacRumors said in a report.

Presumably the next iPhone, which circulating rumours refer to as the iPhone 6S or 7, will be the recipient of the technology since Apple normally equips its flagship smartphone with high-end components, the camera hardware including.

Superfast autofocus

Sony is boasting that the IMX230 CMOS sensor is specifically designed for smartphone. Its 192 autofocus points make for ultra-fast processing of moving object signals.

"The new IMX230 is a type 1/2.4 stacked CMOS image sensor with a significantly improved 21 effective megapixels, and it is also equipped with a newly developed signal processing function," the Japanese tech giant was reported by MacRumors as saying.

Part of the package is a 21MP image sensor that is paired with High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging technology that will enable end-users to produce pictures in crisp details and colours.

4K videos

The IMX230's HDR capability is also extended on the video side, meaning future iPhone owners can easily shoot clips in 4K quality.

"HDR imaging now supports not only 4K (4096 x 2160) high-resolution videos but also still images," Sony said.

Packed with iPhone 7?

Yet basing on Apple's track record of shunning away from high megapixel sensors - the iPhone 6 shooter remains at 8MP - and the company's preference for older-generation camera sensors, it's more likely that IMX230 will only be part of the iPhone supply chain in later years, MacRumors said on its report.

The best bet for a Sony CMOS sensor to come with the next iPhone is the 13MP IMX135 that Sony had made public in January 2013.

The Apple-centric site added that Apple will likely wait out for the 16MP IMX230 - that is if the company will use the sensor at all - which is reportedly geared for mass rollout next year.

That same sensor then will be around one-year old by 2016, which is believed as the likely iPhone 7 release date set by Apple.