Sony Unveils 48-Megapixel Smartphone Camera Sensor

Today, Sony unveiled the world’s first smartphone camera sensor with a crazy-high resolution of 48 megapixels and a pixel size of 0.8 ?m.

The IMX586’s small pixel size allows Sony to cram a lot into a sensor that is small enough to fit into a smartphone chassis. Pixels in a smartphone camera sensor are generally larger than 1 ?m.

The biggest selling feature of this sensor is that it has the ability to combine the light captured from four adjacent pixels in low-light conditions. This allows for much better low-light photography, creating bright and vibrant images. The IMX586 also has a dynamic range that is “four times greater than conventional products.”

The sensor can take 4K video at 90fps and 1080p video at 240fps for all your slow-motion needs.

Sony will start shipping samples of the IMX586 camera sensor in September 2018, which means that the first smartphones sporting this sensor are expected to ship in early 2019. It seems unlikely that this year’s iPhone will include the new sensors, however, it is quite possible that the 2019 models of Apple’s iPhone will include this sensor.

[via Engadget]