> All cameras after that one were different: The hardware team tied the LED to a hardware signal from the sensor: If the (I believe) vertical sync was active, the LED would light up. There is NO firmware control to disable/enable the LED. The actual firmware is indeed flashable, but the part is not a generic part and there are mechanisms in place to verify the image being flashed. […]
I'm not sure I follow. If the LED burns out you're implying the camera would no longer work? I imagine they'd replace the whole camera module. I saw one for an older model on ifixit for $30. I'd probably try and snag one scrap. I'm not sure how often it comes up.
https://daringfireball.net/2019/02/on_covering_webcams
> All cameras after that one were different: The hardware team tied the LED to a hardware signal from the sensor: If the (I believe) vertical sync was active, the LED would light up. There is NO firmware control to disable/enable the LED. The actual firmware is indeed flashable, but the part is not a generic part and there are mechanisms in place to verify the image being flashed. […]