AAPL Apple Inc

By Nathan Olivarez-Giles 

When the iPhone 7 Plus started selling last Friday, one key feature wasn't available: the eagerly anticipated portrait camera mode. On Wednesday, it made its first semipublic appearance, when Apple Inc. released iOS 10.1 beta software to developers.

Sure enough, the feature that uses the dual-camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus to artfully blur the background of photos, was there. The effect mimics what appears in portrait shots taken with DSLRs and other cameras with larger lenses and sensors. The two cameras on the iPhone 7 Plus are needed to judge the distance between the photo's subject and the background. As such, it isn't available for the iPhone 7.

The inclusion of the portrait mode in the iOS 10.1 developer beta was first reported by TechCrunch.

Apple's iOS public beta software usually comes about a week or so after the developer beta is issued, though it could take much longer for the general release of iOS 10.1 to be available. Apple hasn't said when its portrait mode will arrive publicly, just that it would happen before the end of the year.

Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 21, 2016 17:07 ET (21:07 GMT)

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