has just introduced its first 200MP camera sensor called ISOCELL HP1. While we are waiting to see the launch of the first smartphone offering a 200MP camera, Samsung is said to be reportedly working on a 576MP camera sensor. Mobile brands have already familiarised us with 108MP cameras through pixel binning technology. Samsung has further improved this technology for the 200MP ISOCELL HP1 sensor and is now calling it
ChameleonCell
. However, it remains to be seen how Samsung actually develops the 576MP camera.
As for the launch date, Samsung SVP & Head of Automotive Sensors Haechang Lee gave a presentation at SEMI Europe Summit 2021 and in one of his slides where he was talking about the roadmap of camera sensors, it mentioned 576MP by 2025, as per a report by
GizChina
. In other words, Samsung is planning to make a 576MP camera sensor by 2025. Interestingly, the slideshow subtly hinted that after 2021, 108MP may become the standard resolution for most smartphones. .Talking about the technology used in the 200MP ISOCELL HP1 image sensor, there’s a new pixel-binning technology called ChameleonCell. It has three pixel layouts: two-by-two, four-by-four or full pixel layout depending on the surrounding light. If you are clicking photos in 200MP resolution, then the individual pixel size is reduced to 0.64μm. This may be ideal for clicking photos in bright conditions. In a low-lit environment, the HP1 transforms into a 12.5MP image sensor with large 2.56μm pixels by merging 16 neighboring pixels. The sensor can also click photos in 50MP at a pixel size of 1.28μm.The ISOCELL HP1 can take 8K videos at 30 frames-per-second (fps) with minimum loss in the field of view. The HP1 merges four neighboring pixels to bring the resolution down to 50MP or 8,192 x 6,144 to take 8K (7,680 x 4,320) videos without the need to crop or scale down the full image resolution.
