Samsung Electronics, a provider of advanced semiconductor technology, has launched the 200 MP ISOCELL HP3, the industry's smallest 0.56 micrometer (μm) pixel image sensor.
“Samsung has continuously led the image sensor market trend through its technological leadership in high-resolution sensors with the smallest pixels,” said JoonSeo Yim, executive vice president of the sensor business team at Samsung Electronics. “With our latest and upgraded 0.56μm 200MP ISOCELL HP3, Samsung will move forward to deliver epic resolutions beyond professional levels for smartphone camera users.”
Beyond professional levels
Since launching its first 108MP image sensor in 2019, Samsung has been leading the charge in developing next-generation ultra-high-resolution cameras. Through the constant release of new image sensors and advancements in performance, the company is once again moving forward with the 0.56μm, 200MP ISOCELL HP3.
The ISOCELL HP3, with a pixel size 12% smaller than its predecessor's 0.64 μm, contains 200 million pixels in a 1/1.4 inch optical format, which is the diameter of the area captured by the camera lens. This means that the ISOCELL HP3 can enable an approximately 20% reduction in camera module surface area, allowing smartphone manufacturers to keep their premium devices thin.
The ISOCELL HP3 comes with a Super QPD autofocus solution, which means every pixel on the sensor is equipped with autofocus capabilities. Additionally, Super QPD uses a single lens on four adjacent pixels to detect phase differences in the horizontal and vertical directions. This paves the way for more accurate and faster autofocus for smartphone camera users.
The sensor also allows users to record 8K video at 30 frames per second (fps) or 4K at 120fps, with minimal loss in field of view when recording 8K video. Combined with the Super QPD solution, users can record cinematic movie-like images with their mobile devices.
Low light experience
The ISOCELL HP3 also offers an ultimate low-light experience, with Tetra 2 pixel technology that combines four pixels into one to transform the 200MP 0.56μm sensor into a 50MP 1.12μm sensor or a 12. 5MP with 2.24μm pixels, combining 16 pixels into one. The technology allows the sensor to simulate a large pixel sensor to take brighter, more vibrant photos even in dark environments such as indoors or at night.
To maximize the dynamic range of the mobile image sensor, the ISOCELL HP3 adopts an enhanced Smart-ISO Pro feature. The technology merges image information obtained from the two conversion gains of low and high ISO mode to create HDR images. The updated version of the technology comes with a triple ISO mode – Low, Medium and High – which further expands the sensor's dynamic range.
Additionally, enhanced Smart-ISO Pro allows the sensor to express images in more than four trillion colors (14-bit color depth), 64 times more colors than the predecessor's 68 billion (12-bit). Additionally, by supporting scaled HDR alongside Smart-ISO Pro, the ISOCELL HP3 can switch between the two solutions depending on the shooting environment to produce high-quality HDR images.
Samples of the Samsung ISOCELL HP3 are currently available and mass production is expected to begin this year.