In a previous post I mentioned a rumor that the iPhone 6 will continue to have an 8-megapixel camera, but that it would come with optical image stabilization. Now yet another rumor has appeared that supports the claim that Apple is working on optical stabilization technology. Last Thursday the US patent office published an Apple patent that describes in detail how optical image stabilization and improved autofocus will work in the iPhone camera. Images from the patent application and a description were posted Friday by UnwiredView.com. According to the post, the patent indicates that Apple has been working on this technology since at least early 2012, so it could well be that it's ready for the iPhone 6. A quote from the patent describes Apple's approach to autofocus (AF) and optical image stabilization (OIS):
Actuator module may have integrated therein a mechanism to provide the AF function and a mechanism to provide the OIS function. The AF mechanism is configured to both move the lens along the optical axis and actively tilt the lens. The lens tilt may be used to compensate for parasitic lens movements due to, for example, tilting of the device within which actuator module is implemented. The OIS mechanism is configured to move (e.g., shift) the lens in directions orthogonal to the optical axis to correct for handshake motions in the center of the image. By shifting, as opposed to tilting the entire camera (e.g., the lens and image sensor together as a rigid body), the associated image sensor substrate can remain stationary, substantially simplifying both camera manufacture, size, and packaging in the mobile electronic device.
It's interesting that their solution entails keeping the technology compact and simple.
Image stabilization isn't new to the iPhone, since the iPhone 5s has software-based image stabilization. It helps avoid blurred photos by quickly taking four photos with short exposure and then combining the best parts of those photos into a single photo that has as few flaws as possible that are typically caused by shaking hands or the subject moving.
As you can see from the description above, optical image stabilization actually involves slight motion of the camera lens to compensate for motions. You can see more detail on MacRumors.