Samsung’s New 200MP Sensor Could Make Its Way To Next Galaxy Flagship

Samsung has just announced the availability of a new 200MP camera sensor. Called the ISOCELL HP1, it’s the first of its kind with 0.64μm pixels. It’s supposed to have the ability to capture ultrahigh resolution shots without adding significant bulk to a phone’s chassis. Even when said images are cropped or resized, they retain a great deal of detail and sharpness.

The same is true of low-light photography. ISOCELL has ChameleonCell, which is a pixel-binning technology that uses a two-by-two, four-by-four or full pixel layout depending on the environment. When in low-light conditions, the HP1 becomes a 12.5MP image sensor with large 2.56μm pixels by merging 16 neighboring pixels.

This allows for more light absorption and sensitivity, which in turn produce brighter and clearer photos when in-doors or at night. During the day or in bright environments, the sensor can capture shots with the full 200MP for high definition photography. 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. This can be done without the need to crop or scale down the resolution.

Alongside the ISOCELL HP1, Samsung also announced the GN5. It is said to be the industry’s first 1.0μm image sensor to integrate Dual Pixel Pro, an all-directional autofocusing technology. It can greatly increase auto focusing capabilities. Two photodiodes are placed within each 1.0μm pixel of the sensor either horizontally or vertically to recognize the pattern changes.

“With the ISOCELL HP1 that is breaking barriers and ISOCELL GN5 bringing ultrafast auto focus, Samsung will continue to lead the trend for next-generation mobile imaging technologies,” said Duckhyun Chang, executive vice president of sensor business at Samsung Electronics.

Thanks in part to its one million phase-detecting multi-directional photodiodes, the ISOCELL GN5 has almost instantaneous auto focusing ability to capture sharper images in right or low-lit conditions. The sensor also utilizes Samsung’s Proprietary pixel technology, which the company says:

“Applies Front Deep Trench Isolation (FDTI) on a Dual Pixel product for the first time in the industry. Despite the microscopic photodiode size, FDTI enables each photodiode to absorb and hold more light information, improving the photodiodes’ full-well capacity (FWC) and decreasing crosstalk within the pixel.”

Samsung has already made the ISOCELL HP1 and GN5 available as samples. And by looks of it, this 200MP sensor could make its way into the Galaxy S21 Ultra.