In the world of smartphone trends, one that's exploded over the past year is portrait mode for cameras. Apple was the first to really popularize this with the iPhone 7 Plus, and soon after its release, we saw Google, Samsung, Motorola and countless other OEMs follow suit.
Now, according to a file found within the APK for Instagram's Android app, the popular photo-sharing service will soon be getting its own portrait mode, too.
The file in question is a .png one that's labeled portait_shutter_icon. It shows the outline of a person with Instagram's colors around it, and it looks like an icon you'd find on Instagram's capture page next to its Boomerang and Superzoom shooting modes.
We aren't sure just yet about the specifics for Instagram's portrait mode, but if it's like what we've seen so far in the industry, it'll likely blur out the background around subjects you take photos of to create for more professional-looking shots. I'm guessing the portrait effect will be made via software, and while we've seen good results of this method with the Google Pixel 2, I'm a bit skeptical of how this will translate to an app that's used by thousands of different Android phones.
In addition to this portrait mode, we also recently caught wind of unannounced video and voice calling services that are being developed for Instagram. A portrait mode is certainly more of a core photo-capturing feature, but even so, it's clear that there are big things in the work for the app this year.
Snapchat, the ball is now in your court.
