Samsung
Samsung Launches 200MP ISOCELL HPX Sensor: It Won’t Arrive On The Galaxy S23 Ultra
Samsung unveiled a new smartphone camera sensor with a 200MP resolution. It arrives with several features and greater capture capacity in various light conditions. The new sensor just presented is called ISOCELL HPX and will be able to count on several technical specifications of interest. As we will see, however, this sensor may never arrive in the US, at least not in the variant that debuted today, remaining exclusive of Chinese brands such as Xiaomi or Realme. Previously, it had already released ISOCELL HP3 sensors for thin and compact mobile phones.
This time, the news presented by the South Korean manufacturer seems to maintain this idea since the sensor should leave the camera module about 20% smaller. Therefore, the smartphone equipped with it will not only be less thick but will also have a set of lenses less highlighted from the back.
The new 200 Megapixel ISOCELL HPX sensor, can record 8K video at 30 fps and use 12.5 or 50 Megapixel pixel binning, depending on the light conditions in which the shots are taken. The launch of the new 200 Megapixel sensor is definitely very interesting news.
Recall, in fact, that, according to the rumors of recent days, Samsung would have opted for a 200 Megapixel sensor for its next top of the range, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which will arrive on the market during the first quarter of 2023. The focus on the launch of new photographic sensors of this type, therefore, can only be high.
The first information about the new ISOCELL HPX, however, anticipates us that this sensor will have nothing in common, net of the 200 Megapixels, with what Samsung should install on the S23 Ultra. The sensor, in fact, should have been made ‘on commission’ for some Chinese brands and could only be installed on smartphones intended for the local market.
Meanwhile, between the end of the current year and the beginning of next year, the new ISOCELL HPX is expected to start making its way into the market. For now, there is still no list of customers for this new sensor but it is easy to assume that, shortly, the new HPX could be offered by smartphones branded by Xiaomi, OPPO, Realme and Motorola. More details will certainly come in the next few days.
Samsung Electronics and Taiwan are working on the same stage, as both of them are binding in the Alliance for the image sensors.
There is a new partnership in town as Samsung Electronics and Taiwan are shaking hands to compete with Sony. This partnership seems to be part of Samsung’s dual manufacturing strategy aimed at enhancing efficiency and gaining a competitive edge in pricing.
Industry sources unveiled that Samsung is continuing its cooperation with UMC as part of its “Fab-lite” strategy for image sensors. The ‘Fab-lite’ suggests a concentrated operation of Samsung’s image sensor factories. Under this model, the Korean giant will handle the primary processes while outsourcing the remaining steps to external foundries.
The Korean giant is using a two-notch approach for image sensor production: the first is going with in-house high-performance, and the second is outsourcing lower-cost sensors used in devices such as vacuums and appliances. This outsourcing will help in converting light into digital signals and performing image correction steps. Overall, with these two approaches, Samsung can easily concentrate on the most critical aspects of high-performance sensors.
The foundry handling the outsourced image sensor production for Samsung Electronics is UMC, a Taiwanese company. UMC ranks fourth globally with a 6% share of the foundry market and practices legacy foundry processes such as 22 nm and 28 nm. Through this technique of dual manufacturing, the Korean Electronics firm is closely chasing Sony, which is currently holding over 50% of the market share in the image sensor segment.
Back in 2021, Samsung Electronics was the first in the world to produce a 200 million-pixel image sensor, and it aims to debut sensors with over 500 million pixels next year.
Google constantly tries to bring innovations to its Android ecosystem that lead to revolutionizing it and keeping ahead of its other competitors, like Apple. Over the years, the company has made many changes to its operating system to make it more interesting and intuitive. In the case of convenience, the company is almost successful in getting the millstone.
However, it lacked long-term software support for the device, but last year, the Big G extended it and brought support for seven years of software support with its latest Pixel 8 series devices. Following that, Samsung has also implemented the same policy for the Galaxy devices; however, currently, the Samsung Galaxy S24 is the only contender that is blessed with long software support.
Will Samsung continue the seven-year software support policy?
Based on past events, it is highly expected that the company may bring the seven-year software policy to more devices. For your information, in the last policy change, the year 2022, the Korean giant included some devices, including the Galaxy S21 series, the Galaxy S21 FE, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, and the Galaxy Z Flip 3, which were only eligible for four years of software support, but the company has to redefine the policy for them and extend it for one more year. Along with the older devices, the company has implemented the same for later flagship devices.
With time, the five-year software policy has also started for the midrange device, and now there is no difference left between premium and affordable devices, so to make some difference, the company may introduce the seven-year software update policy for the flagship devices.
Top candidates to get seven-year software support
Samsung hasn’t had any latest flagship devices in its catalog since the Galaxy S24 series, so that may be the main reason why the company hasn’t expanded its product line to other devices over the past seven years, but in the coming days some new flagship devices are coming, including the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Galaxy Z Flip 6, and the Galaxy S24 FE. If the company officially publishes the new software policy expansion, it may also add some flagship devices from last year.
Samsung Display has established a new R&D team dedicated to developing OLED products for Apple.
According to reports from China, Samsung Display created a new R&D team specifically to develop OLED products for Apple, titled the team ‘A Team.” It is a part of Samsung’s Giheung Research Institute in South Korea.
Undoubtedly, Apple is an immensely essential customer for Samsung Display, and up until currently, SDC has been the leading provider of OLED displays for Apple. This move seems like an interesting one by SDC. In a way, the giant is grabbing the majority of orders for iPhone AMOLEDs.
However, Apple is setting up to embrace OLEDs in IT products, starting with tablets, which are turning things around. If the reports are to be believed, LG Display is Apple’s main provider of iPad AMOLEDs for first-generation devices, as the brand has greater experience with collective OLED architectures.
The Korean giant has been struggling to boost the production of such panels. It is also feeling pressure from China-based AMOLED producers, which are increasing their production capabilities and starting to win Apple display orders. It will be quite interesting to see whether SDC introduces technologies exclusively for Apple or if they just want to accelerate their OLED R&D for all their customers, which include Samsung itself.
It is reported that Apple is aiming to replace all of its IT displays with OLEDs over the next few years, which include tablets, laptops, and monitors. On the other hand, Apple itself is setting up its OLED-related technology.