Samsung has announced two new photographic sensors for mobile devices with resolutions of 64 and 48 megapixels. A considerable increase that will bring important advantages according to the scenario thanks to its technologies and algorithms that allow it to adapt to the scene according to the luminosity of it.
The new Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensors offer 64 megapixels of resolution, while the ISOCELL Bright GM2 will reach 48 megapixels. With both the level of sharpness that could be achieved in mobile photography increases considerably, especially with the GW1.
However, the question is whether we really need so much resolution in a mobile phone or, if on the contrary, the lower resolution is better in exchange for larger pixels and able to capture more light. The logical answer is to have brighter pixels, but here comes into play the technology that Samsung calls Tetra cell, which you probably know better as Pixel Binning.
Thanks to this technology and the use of algorithms, several pixels are joined to behave as a single one. In this way, the new ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor would work as a 16-megapixel sensor gaining luminosity. With this, in low light scenes, the devices would use this option to take well-lit photos, while with abundant light we would take advantage of 64 megapixels to obtain photos with greater clarity and detail.
Another advantage of the new sensor is the ability to record full HD resolution video at a frame rate that would reach up to 480 fps, improving the current 240 fps that is usual to find in slow motion video recording.
The ISOCELL Bright GM2 is the second generation 48-megapixel sensor that the manufacturer already had and can now reproduce images at full resolution so it would compete for face to face with Sony’s proposal.
With the announcement of these new sensors, it continues showing that photography is a key section in mobile devices. Having more power, better screen, more autonomy or sound are still important aspects, but it is the photographic one where more differences are marked and can be what determines the purchase.
The problem is that beyond the use of sensors like these from Samsung, where the resolution increases to such high figures, the processing software has the same or more importance. We’ve seen it especially with Google and its Pixels that with a single 12MP resolution camera it gets amazing results. Therefore, if the news of the new ISOCELL sensors is interesting, it will also be necessary to see how each manufacturer squeezes to the maximum all the possibilities that on a technical level and on paper will offer. These sensors will enter production mid-year or the beginning of the next when we see the first devices with them.