While no official release date has been published by Samsung for the mass production of these image sensors, the units are already available for phone companies so they might be coming soon.
Samsung announced that it is working on a 200-megapixel image sensor for its smartphone cameras. Dubbed the ISOCELL HP1, it has 0.64m pixels and can bin 16 of those all at once which is similar to a 12.5-megapixel sensor with 2.56m pixels. Samsung has already selected a catchy name for the HP1’s pixel-binning technology and is called the “ChameleonCell.”
The ChameleonCell comes with a four-by-four 12.5-megapixel setting that is most suited for night mode or in case there is low light available. Not only that, but this unusual pixel setting can also capture full 200-megapixel resolution photos. It can also be used to capture 50-megapixel resolution pictures by using a different two-by-two binning technique but that all depends on the user’s specifications. Along with 50-megapixel images, the HP1 is the two by two binning mode that is also able to capture 8K video. Samsung said that it’s able to shoot the 8K video without cropping any parts which are a bit inconsistent since standard 8K is less than 50 megapixels (7680 x 4320)
Along with the ISOCELL HP1, Samsung also has plans to introduce a new sensor called the ISOCELL GN5. This sensor is a 50-megapixel sensor with 1.0m pixels and is planned to be integrated with Samsung’s Dual Pixel Pro technology. This sensor can be seen as the smaller sibling of the 1.4m pixel GN2 which was introduced on Xiaomi’s Mi 11 Ultra earlier this year.
While no official release date has been published by Samsung for the mass production of these image sensors, the units are already available for phone companies so they might be coming soon.