Samsung Electronics has introduced ISOCELL HP3, its latest 200-megapixel camera sensor that will help manufacturers keep their premium smartphones thin. Despite having some of the smallest pixels to date, the sensor includes technology such as auto-focus capability on each pixel, binning for better low-light capability, and multiple-gain ISO for maximum dynamic range.
The HP3 sensor is 1/4 inch in size, quite large for a smartphone, but extremely small for a 200 megapixel sensor. Samsung claims to have the smallest pixels in the industry at 0.56 microns, 20 percent smaller than the 0.64 micron pixels of the ISOCELL HP1 launched last year. However, this is not entirely accurate, as Chinese manufacturer Omnivision introduced a 200-megapixel sensor with the same pixel size of 0.56 microns in February.
Samsung
Still, Samsung’s sensor has some good tech tricks. Each pixel has autofocus detection capability, and “Super QPD” technology uses a single lens of more than four pixels that allows for faster, more accurate autofocus. You can also group four 0.56 micron pixels into a larger 1.12 micron and 50 megapixel sensor for better low light capability, or even combine 16 pixels into a 2.24 micron sized one. It’s still considerably smaller than most of the camera’s sensor pixels (Sony’s 61-megapixel full-frame A7R IV sensor has 3.76 micron pixels), but it should allow for a decent ability to shoot in low light.
In addition to high-resolution photos, it supports 8K video at 30 fps and 4K at 120 fps, while using almost the full width of the sensor. Finally, it offers a 14-bit color depth (4 trillion colors), quadrupling the 12-bit depth of most smartphone sensors. Mass production will begin this year, and you’ll probably see 200-megapixel phones with the sensor in 2023.
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