Samsung launches a 200-megapixel camera sensor for phones

Today, almost everyone walks around with their camera in their pocket, from which the next photo is only a few seconds away. The camera itself is also one of the biggest selling points from companies when they release new phones. In addition to new functions on the software side, development continues on the hardware side, of course, not least the camera sensors.

Samsung is now unveiling the 200MP ISOCELL HP1 camera sensor. By comparison, that’s just over 24 times more pixels than a 4K UHD screen, which counts on roughly 8.3 megapixels. The idea behind the large number of pixels is not necessarily to capture such high-resolution images, but through technology pixel binning Merging pixels for better image quality. However, with something Samsung calls Chameleon Technology, it should be possible to take full-resolution photos in the right lighting conditions.

At full resolution, each pixel measures 0.64 square micrometers. With pixel binning At 2 x 2, where four pixels are combined into one, the size of each pixel increases to 1.28 μm and the resolution decreases to 50 megapixels. It is also possible to use 4 x 4-pixel binning, where a total of 16 pixels are combined into a size of 2.56 µm and the resolution is reduced to 12.5 megapixels which is still high.

Along with the ISOCELL HP1, Samsung has announced the ISOCELL GN5, a smaller sensor described as thin and perhaps the most popular in a phone. This comes down to “only” 50 megapixels where each pixel is 1 micrometer square. with 2 x 2-pixel binning The size grows to 4 μm and the resolution decreases to 12.5 megapixels.

The Samsung ISOCELL GN5 has also been described as the “world’s first camera” with Dual Pixel Pro, which is Samsung’s name for the technology where every pixel in the camera is used to autofocus an entire image. Moreover, a technology called Front Deep Trench Isolation (FDTI) was mentioned which allows each individual pixel to absorb as much light as possible to reduce the amount of noise. Common to both sensors is support for 8K UHD video recording at 30 frames per second (FPS) and 4K UHD at 120 frames per second.

It will likely last until next year before the new sensors find their way into new mobile phones. Previous information indicates that a 200-megapixel sensor will be used in the next flagship phone from Samsung – Galaxy S22 Ultra.