Samsung unveils new 200MP and 50MP mobile image sensors

Samsung just announced three new mobile image sensors designed for a phone's "main and sub cameras".

With regards to these new sensors, Jesuk Lee, Executive Vice President and CTO of the System LSI Sensor Business Team at Samsung Electronics, said:

Enhancing image sensor performance and bridging the gap between main and sub cameras to offer a consistent photography experience across all angles is the new direction of the industry.

To start, the ISOCELL HP9 is the industry's first 200MP telephoto sensor. It comes with a proprietary high-refractive microlens that has a new material to improve light-gathering capability for more vivid colour reproduction and better focus.

Unlike conventional telephoto lenses which fare badly in low light conditions, the ISOCELL HP9 uses Tetrapixel technology to merge 16 pixels into a large 12MP 2.24μm-sized sensor to deliver sharper portrait shots and more dramatic bokeh effects.

Samsung says the ISOCELL HP9 is powered by a remosaic algorithm that offers 2x or 4x in-sensor zoom modes and can achieve up to 12x zoom when paired with a 3x zoom telephoto module.

Next, the ISOCELL GNJ is a 50MP dual-pixel sensor in a 1/1.57-inch optical format. It is equipped with an improved high-transmittance anti-refractive layer (ARL) and proprietary high-refractive microlense to enhance light transmission and minimise unwanted reflections. 

Moreover, Samsung upgraded the pixel isolation material in deep trench isolation (DTI) from polysilicon to silicon oxide. This enables the image sensor to reduce crosstalk between adjacent pixels and capture more details. 

There is also better power efficiency for the ISOCELL GNJ – it has 29% and 34% lower power consumption in preview mode and 4K 60fps video mode respectively.

The third mobile image sensor is the ISOCELL JN5, which is another 50MP sensor in a 1/2.76-inch optical format.

New features include dual vertical transfer gate (Dual VTG) technology to reduce noise in extreme low light settings, Super Quad Phase Detection (Super QPD) for improved autofocus vertically and horizontally, and dual slope gain (DSG) technology to boost HDR. 

Samsung states that the slim optical format of the ISOCELL JN5 enables it to be used across main and sub cameras.

No timeline is provided for the debut of the three mobile image sensors. We reckon the wait is unlikely to be long with the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event on 10 July and further launches of new Android phones later this year before the holiday season.

Source: Samsung

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