Samsung announces 200-megapixel phone camera sensor

Samsung has announced a 200-megapixel image sensor intended for smartphone cameras, by some distance the highest resolution phone camera sensor ever made. The ISOCELL HP1 has 0.64μm pixels and can bin 16 of them at once for the equivalent of a 12.5-megapixel sensor with 2.56μm pixels.

Samsung calls the HP1’s pixel-binning technology “ChameleonCell.” The four-by-four 12.5-megapixel setting is intended for low-light usage, but it can also capture full 200-megapixel resolution photos, or use a two-by-two binning technique for 50-megapixel images.

The two-by-two binning mode also lets the HP1 capture 8K video. Samsung says it’s capable of shooting 8K without cropping, although standard 8K (7,680 x 4,320) is less than 50 megapixels.

Samsung is also introducing a new sensor called the ISOCELL GN5. It’s a 50-megapixel sensor with 1.0μm pixels, and Samsung says it’s the first 1.0μm-pixel sensor to integrate its Dual Pixel Pro technology. That basically makes it sound like a smaller version of the 1.4μm-pixel GN2, which was the biggest phone camera sensor available when it made its debut on Xiaomi’s Mi 11 Ultra this year.

Samsung hasn’t said when either new sensor will be going into mass production, but samples are currently available for phone manufacturers.