Samsung has announced a new ultra-slim image sensor designed to be used on smartphones with full-screen displays, the ISOCELL Slim 3T2. The Samsung ISOCELL Slim 3T2 is the industry’s most compact image sensor at 1/3.4 inches with 20MP resolution. The size makes it easy to fit in tiny camera modules, including those with tiny notches or hole-in displays on the front.
Samsung explains that phones with display features such as the “hole-in display” or “notch design” front-facing image sensors need to minimize their size without compromising on the high-quality images. And the inspiration for the Samsung 3T2 image sensor has been developed so that it fits into the tiny module, thus making more space for the display. The ISOCELL has been designed keeping in mind full-screen smartphones, so it can fit inside tiny modules that can either go in a notch or a hole punch display like the Infinity-O.
Using the same 0.8-micron pixel size on the 20MP sensor like the 48MP shooter, the manufacturer is using pixel-binning to get the most out of the sensor. This process essentially combines the data from four adjacent pixels into one pixel, delivering better quality snaps at the expense of resolution. In fact, Samsung says the phone takes pixel-binned photos that are equivalent to that of a 5MP 1.6-micron pixel sensor.
Furthermore, the image sensor takes bright and sharper pictures in low-light settings. Also, compared to a 13MP sensor with the same module height, the 20MP 3T2 retains a 60 percent higher effective resolution at 10x digital zoom.
