Samsung will bring four new ISOCELL camera sensors to upcoming smartphones

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Samsung will bring four new ISOCELL camera sensors to upcoming smartphones
Samsung announced four new ISOCELL camera sensors with ISOCELL Plus and Smart ISO technology on board. The new lineup consists of a 108-megapixel (Mp) ISOCELL HM2, 64Mp ISOCELL GW3, 48Mp ISOCELL GM5, and 32Mp ISOCELL JD1. Samsung has shrunk the size of those sensors by opting for a slightly smaller pixel size - 0.7μm vs 0.8μm in the previous generation. By doing this, the Korean company was able to reduce the overall size of the sensors by 15%, and also make the new camera modules 10% shorter.

The reduced pixel size normally means that sensors may not gather as much light as their bigger cousins. Samsung is introducing ISOCELL 2.0, which tries to offer good performance in low-light conditions despite the challenges with decreasing pixel sizes. This technology improves the light sensitivity of individual pixels by up to 12%, according to Samsung. 


The ISOCELL HM2 is Samsung’s third 108Mp image sensor following the HMX and HM1. The new 108Mp-sensor is around 15-percent smaller than the 0.8μm-based predecessors. The GW3 is a 64Mp-image sensor optimized for mainstream devices. Thanks to the smaller pixel size, the GW3’s optical size is nearly identical to that of Samsung’s 0.8μm 48Mp image sensor. This sensor supports video recording at up to 4K resolution at 60 fps.

The GM5 is a 48Mp-image sensor designed for use in telescoping or ultra-wide angle cameras, while the JD1 is the industry’s smallest 32Mp-image sensor at 1/3.14-inches, making it an ideal solution for smartphones with bezel-less displays that incorporate a hole-in-active-area or motorized pop-up mechanism for the front-facing camera.

Samsung ISOCELL HM2, GW3 and JD1 are currently in mass production, and the company is sampling GM5.

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