Mobile photography could get a boost as Samsung combines camera sensors with AI
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AI is the biggest trend in the tech world and according to Business Korea (via SamMobile), SK Hynix is working on its "On-sensor AI" which incorporates AI capabilities with image sensors. Samsung is doing the same thing with the goal of becoming the top provider of image sensors in the industry. Currently, Japan's Sony owns that title. Samsung has already unveiled its Zoom Anyplace technology which is powered by AI. It offers a full-frame 4K video recording simultaneously with a zoomed-in part of that frame.
Zoom Anyplace uses AI technology to automatically track subjects during close-ups. And Samsung wants to create "Humanoid Sensors" that can copy human senses. The company reportedly has a roadmap that leads to the creation of AI image sensors that can capture invisible things by 2027. With 54% of the global image sensor market last year, according to Counterpoint Research, Sony is the company that uneasily wears the crown in the industry. Samsung was next with 29% and SK Hynix has slipped into the top five with 5%.
At its SK Hynix TechSummit 2023 event held last month, the Korean chip designer revealed that it has been embedding an image sensor onto an AI chip allowing it to process data at the sensor level. Traditional sensors have to send image information to the device's CPU for computational processing. "On-sensor AI" is expected to improve image quality, reduce processing time, and lower energy consumption.
Samsung held its Samsung System LSI Tech Day in Silicon Valley a couple of months ago. At the event, System LSI President Park Yong-in said that Samsung needs to be a leader in this era of 'Proactive AI' which includes leading in Generative AI, high-performance algorithms and technologies, and long-range communication solutions.
The image sensor market, which contracted during the pandemic due to a decline in smartphone sales, is now riding a new growth wave with demand coming from mobile devices, mixed reality headsets and other extended reality products, self-driving vehicles, and robots. Samsung is hoping that the image sensors it embeds with AI end up being used to back the mobile cameras found on its smartphones.
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