Samsung’s plan to develop a
600MP smartphone camera sensor may finally be coming to fruition.
Earlier in the year, Executive Vice President of Samsung’s sensor business unit Yongin Park penned an editorial, expressing the company’s wish to create a sensor that can go beyond the human eye. For the nerds in us, the resolution of the human eye is said to be around 576 megapixels.
As Park explained in his write up, increasing the megapixel count is not as easy as it may sound. Cramming too many pixels on a sensor would require a size increase and reducing the size of individual pixels would make images dull.
The 600MP sensor that Samsung is seemingly working on features 0.8µm pixels and it is 1/0.57″ big. There is a lot more work to be done because this particular sensor would take up 12 percent of a smartphone’s area and it would also result in a 22mm bulge.
Galaxy Note 20 is 8.3mm thick, and it goes without saying that a 22mm camera bump would look a little too out of place.
Why is Samsung intent on delivering a 600MP sensor?
Google are not engaging in megapixel wars.
Well, the South Korean giant had previously said that higher resolution sensors could have applications outside of smartphone photography, such as detecting potentially life-threatening diseases and improving quality control in industries like agriculture.
As for what’s in it for average smartphone users, a 600MP sensor will seemingly be able to shoot 4K and 8K videos with more zoom versatility.
We wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung reduces
pixel size further, as the company was the first to introduce
sensors with 0.7μm pixels in 2019, something which was supposedly deemed impossible by its competitors.
It could be a while before a 600MP sensor is commercialized, and we may see
150MP and
250MP units precede its arrival. For now, we will have to make do with the
108MP camera, which is set to make a return with the upcoming
Galaxy S21 apparently.
