It looks like Samsung is developing 423 MP ISOCELL HW1 and HW2 sensors
We have already talked several times that it is not all about the sensor resolution when it comes to the quality of photos and videos. Not everything, but 423 million pixelsas many as the two new Samsung ISOCELL HW1 and HW2 sensors, could significantly change the state of both phones and digital devices.
At the beginning of the year, Samsung introduced its new 200 MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor found in the Galaxy S23 Ultra phone, but it seems it's time to push the boundaries further. What was 200 MP yesterday will be 432 MP tomorrow, or so say insiders.
Meanwhile, we should see the Galaxy S24 series in a few months, and the S24 Ultra is expected to have a new 200MP HP2SX sensor, which could have significantly better performance than the HP2 found in the S23 Ultra.
The insider writes that the new sensors belong to the ISOCELL HW series, and what separates them practically from all the others is twice the resolution of the most powerful sensors in the industry. Of course, this high resolution also requires a serious sensor area, which approaches the equivalent of a one-inch sensor in the case of the HW1 and is slightly smaller in the case of the HW2.
ISOCELL HW1 and HW2: small pixels – lots of detail
In addition to the really impressive resolution, the pixels are small – 0.56 µm for HW1 and 0.5 µm for HW2. In this way, it is possible for the sensor to record even the smallest details of what is in front of the camera, as well as to absorb a lot of light by merging adjacent pixels into one large one.
What remains unknown for now is how Samsung will deal with the large increase in pixel dimensions, because we all know that phones such as the Vivo X90 Pro and Xiaomi 13 Ultra have large protruding camera bodies, precisely because of large primary sensors of similar dimensions. Hand on heart, phone models such as the S23 Ultra are indeed of substantial dimensions and a slightly larger camera housing would hardly compromise the design.
Samsung (of course) has not confirmed any of this, but it seems that this company is taking big steps forward when it comes to the development of camera sensors and is slowly threatening the dominant position that Sony has in this market.