Samsung is working on a 200 Mpx sensor for its future ultra-high-end smartphones. The special thing about it is that it is reserved for the telephoto lens.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for illustration // Source: Frandroid
If we wanted to establish a hierarchy between the photo modules in ultra-premium smartphones, the main wide-angle sensor is often the most pampered. Then come telephoto lenses and finally ultra wide angle lenses.
At Samsung, for example, the wide angle is the first to be equipped with a 200 Mpx sensor on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. He was also the one who had previously benefited from the 108 and 50 Mpx sensors. Nothing for the other sensors. A recent rumor suggests that Samsung is considering integrating a 50 Mpx sensor into its Galaxy S24 Ultra on the X3 telephoto lens.
Samsung would be determined to get out of this rut. In a blog note (since unpublished but still visible on the Internet Archive), the Korean giant described a 200 Mpx sensor designed for telephoto lenses.
A telephoto lens with a larger sensor for smaller noses
The Seoul company first develops an argument to explain its interest in developing better telephoto lenses. She particularly mentions the distortion caused by wide-angle shots in portraits, which, among other things, results in large noses appearing in photos.
Samsung reminds why the telephoto lens is useful in portraits. // Source: Samsung
Samsung explains that the main difference in quality between wide-angle and telephoto lenses, aside from the number of pixels, is the size of the sensor. The smaller the sensor, the smaller the photosites. It is therefore impossible to create a sensor of 100 or 200 Mpx starting from a sensor that is too small. However, as Samsung writes, wide-angle lenses tend to integrate sensors of the 1/1.4 inch to 1 inch type, while telephoto lenses are larger, of the 1/2.7 inch to 1/2 inch type.
ISOCELL HP2 and ISOCELL HP3 are used in wide-angle lenses, ISOCELL A and B in telephoto lenses. // Source: Samsung
We understand that Samsung therefore wants to improve the sensors used in its telephoto lenses. And the company writes its project in black and white: “The image sensors currently used in widescreen cameras (1/1.3″ to 1/1.4″) could also be integrated into telemodules in the future.” » The company goes on to say that its SOCELL HP2 and ISOCELL HP3 sensors, which are already used in wide-angle lenses, “are well suited for this type of application”. Although they differ in some ways, both sensors have the same key feature: a deep learning 4×4 remosaic algorithm that enables 2x/4x lossless zoom and 4x crop zoom on-chip. »
The use that Samsung has in mind is clearly to expand even further the possibility of zooming in on an image while limiting losses thanks to the 200 Mpx. We understand this particularly in this comparison that the brand highlights between a 200 Mpx X1 sensor, where we have digitally zoomed to X4, and an 11 Mpx X3 sensor, pushed up to X3.9. The image below is intended to prove that the loss is limited at 200 Mpx.
Source: Samsung
Between the lines, we therefore believe that Samsung might be tempted to integrate a 200 Mpx sensor into a telephoto lens with a moderate zoom factor, like an X3. This would make it possible to rely on an almost lossless digital X6. We are excited.