New Delhi: From camera innovation to the all-important chip, three engineers of Indian origin took centre stage with their achievements at Cupertino Park Monday as Apple launched the iPhone16, its first artificially-intelligent phone.
During the keynote address, the spotlight was steadily on product manager Piyush Pratik, manager of camera hardware engineering Paulom Shah, and vice-president of the company’s silicon engineering group Sribalan Santhanam, who have significantly contributed to the phone’s cutting-edge technology.
A gold medallist from IIT-Delhi, Piyush Pratik took the audience through a new innovation in the iPhone 16 series — camera control. The device now has a dedicated camera control button along its side. Clicking the button takes a photo while sliding it can adjust zoom. Double pressing can also switch modes or settings.
Pratik’s professional journey began as an associate consultant at Bain & Company, where he worked for a year before pursuing an MBA at Stanford University. He completed the degree in 2019, following which he joined Apple as a product manager, a role he’s held ever since.
His bio has a witty take on his diverse achievements. It says: “From selling a $500M housing project to the Ghanaian government, to being a Product Manager at Apple, and watching *Avengers: Endgame* over 10 times, Piyush’s journey is far from typical. A lover of free food, he credits this as a reason for sticking with tech after Stanford. He also dedicates a sizable portion of his earnings to streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Disney+, purely for small talk material.”
Key updates on the camera front include the iPhone’s return to the vertical layout for improved spatial video, a new micro-lens display technology for brighter screens, and the interactive feature “Dynamic Island” across models. iPhone16 also introduces two new buttons: a capture button for enhanced camera functions and the standard action button.
Paulom Shah, who explained the camera shake-up, joined as a camera design intern and has since evolved into leading the team responsible for the iPhone’s wide and telephoto camera design. He is the manager of camera hardware engineering.
Prior to Apple, Shah gained experience in companies like Blackberry and Lytro (now acquired by Google). He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo, which he completed in 2015.
Reflecting on his keynote appearance, Shah shared on LinkedIn: “Incredibly honored to be part of the iPhone 16 Pro keynote! Representing the camera team and Apple on a global stage is a dream come true. Grateful for this surreal experience and to everyone who made this possible.”
The keynote on the newest feature, ‘Apple Intelligence’, included Sribalan Santhanam, who is the vice-president of the silicon engineering group in the company.
In his current role, Santhanam leads the team responsible for Apple’s A-series processors. He became part of Apple in 2008 when the company acquired PA Semi, a chipmaker whose technology became the backbone of iPhone processors. At PA Semi, Santhanam was vice-president for design engineering.
Before that, he worked as a senior director at Broadcom and has been active in the semiconductor industry since the mid-1990s. Santhanam completed his master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1989, following his undergrad in electrical engineering from Anna University in Chennai.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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