Apple is reportedly planning to fix the 'beautygate' effect, which automatically smooths out selfies on the new iPhones (AAPL)

iPhone XS

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• Apple will reportedly fixing the excessive camera smoothing effect that users reported with the iPhone XS.

• The controversy was dubbed "beautygate" by iPhone XS users.

• Reviewers are now noticing that the iPhone XR is producing similar selfies, where facial details and imperfections are smoothed out.

• The fix is coming in the upcoming version of iOS, iOS 12.1.

Apple is reportedly planning to fix the excessive photo smoothing effect from the iPhone XS and iPhone XR phones in an upcoming version of iOS, according to The Verge's review of the iPhone XR.

The selfie smoothing controversy, dubbed "beautygate" when users discovered it, can make iPhone XS selfies appear void of detail compared to previous iPhones and other top Android devices. Indeed, the photos looked as though they were taken with some kind of "beauty mode" effect, which some phones come with as an option. Beauty mode photos tend to have facial details and imperfections blurred out.

The main controversy was that there was no way of turning off the supposed "beauty mode" on the iPhone XS.

You can check out some selfies we took with the iPhone X and iPhone XS Max to see the effect in action. In the image below, it appears like my face has been painted in the iPhone XS Max selfie:

beautygate tony low light

Business Insider/Antonio Villas-Boas

Rather than a "beauty mode," Apple said the smoothing effect comes from the new Smart HDR feature, which is designed to even out shadows and flatten highlights by taking the best of multiple photos taken at various exposures and settings, and combining those photos into a single image.

To mitigate the excessive smoothing that iPhone XS users — and now iPhone XR reviewers — have reported, Apple says it'll adjust the Smart HDR feature to pick out "a sharper base frame."

The fix is reportedly coming in iOS version 12.1, which is currently in public beta but has no official release date yet. 

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See Also:

• 3 reasons you should buy the iPhone XS Max instead of the standard iPhone XS

• This chart reveals a growing problem for Apple — that 'customers are getting less excited for each new generation of iPhone'

• 9 reasons you should buy the iPhone XS instead of an iPhone XR

SEE ALSO: We tested the claims that the iPhone XS selfie camera makes faces look too smooth — check out the results for yourself