Samsung Electronics has launched its next-generation 200-megapixel CMOS image sensor, the ISOCELL HPC, and reports said Oppo is set to be the first smartphone brand to use it. The sensor is the industry's first mobile CIS to support 16-bit RAW output, marking a new specification for flagship phone cameras.
According to IT Chosun, Kbench and other South Korean media, Samsung posted the new sensor on its semiconductor website. The ISOCELL HPC uses a 1/1.3-inch optical format and 0.6μm pixels, placing it in the 200-megapixel class and positioning it for high-end mobile imaging systems.
Most flagship smartphones currently rely on a 14-bit RAW pipeline, but Samsung's new sensor upgrades that to 16-bit RAW. That change increases the amount of uncompressed tonal information captured before computational photography software processes the image. The sensor also supports Sensor HDR Zoom for single-frame HDR shooting from 1x to 4x crop ratios, while video recording reaches up to 4K at 180fps and 8K at 30fps.
For burst shooting, the sensor delivers 7.5 frames per second in 200-megapixel mode, 30 frames per second in 50-megapixel mode and up to 180 frames per second in 12.5-megapixel mode. It also uses Super QPD autofocus and supports RAW10, RAW12, RAW14 and 16-bit RAW formats.
The sensor is reportedly already in mass production and is expected to appear in future flagship devices from Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. Reports said Oppo's upcoming Find X10 series may move away from Sony sensors and become the first smartphone globally to ship with Samsung's 16-bit ISOCELL HPC. Market rumors also suggest Samsung's own next flagship phones may instead use a different 200-megapixel sensor, the ISOCELL HP6.
Article edited by Jerry Chen
