Belkin's FaceTime iPhone Dock with Auto-Tracking Camera Centering
Belkin’s got a new iPhone stand that’s kind of like having a professional camera operator perched on your desk all day. The Auto-Tracking Stand Pro features a motorized mount that ensures you’ll always be in frame during FaceTime and other video calls, even while moving around a room, without having to hold your iPhone at arms length the entire time.
In 2021, Apple released a new feature for iPadOS that used software tricks and the iPad Pro’s wide-angle, front-facing camera to ensure that anyone on camera was always perfectly framed, even while they were moving around.
Unfortunately, Center Stage is still only available on certain iPad and iPad Pro models (plus Apple’s Studio Displays), but during Apple’s 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference last June, the company quietly introduced a new feature for the iPhone called DockKit, which is also capable of tracking the location of objects during a video recording.
Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro is one of the first iPhone docks to take advantage of Apple’s DockKit framework. It looks like a MagSafe-compatible iPhone charging stand with a beefy base designed to prevent accidental topples, but inside that base is an electric motor that allows an attached iPhone to pan a full 360-degrees. There’s also a rechargeable battery that will keep the stand running for up to five hours without a power cord attached.
The magnetic mount the iPhone attaches to is both MagSafe and Qi2 (the new standard for wireless chargers that incorporates magnets) compatible. It charges the phone with 15W of wireless power delivery and is capable of tilting up and down 90-degrees using a motor of its own. Combined with the rotating base and Apple’s DockKit capabilities, the dock will automatically adjust the position of an attached iPhone to keep a subject in frame during FaceTime, Teams, and WhatsApp video calls, or while recording video content for social media apps like Instagram and TikTok.
Similar auto-tracking smartphone mounts have been released in the past, but they’ve always relied on a custom camera app, which can be limiting for users, particularly those live-streaming content. With Apple’s DockKit being integrated directly into iOS, the auto-tracking happens automatically, no matter which app is being used to capture video.
You can pre-order Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro starting today through the company’s website for $180, although an exact release date isn’t known yet.