Samsung’s flagship smartphones already have great performing cameras. However, it seems like things are going to get even better in the future. Rumor has it that the Korean tech giant is working on a 144MP sensor for its upcoming smartphones.
Now, for those of you who don’t think this is a big deal, here’s what’s up. Cameras in smartphones have come a long way. From the barely usable pixelated photos that we used to get 7 years ago to today’s smartphone cameras rivaling certain DSLRs. Apart from that, the camera performance is one of the main factors people take into account when purchasing a new phone.
As mentioned earlier, the flagship smartphones produced by Samsung have one of the best camera results in the competition. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ won MKBHD’s Blind Smartphone Camera Test for 2019. It’s impressive how the Note 10+ managed to win with just a 12MP main camera sensor while the competition had as much as 108MP.
While in the world of Computational Photography, where software optimization and processing are the most important, one can’t deny the role of Megapixels in giving a picture the detail it needs. That is why we are excited about Samsung going all out with their Megapixel count for their future handsets.
So what about the new 144MP sensor? Well, it will be using a 14nm process, which is essential for going beyond a pixel density of 100MP. The advantage of using a 14nm process is an exponential decrease in power consumption. This will be a welcome addition as most of us do get annoyed when our smartphones drain their batteries while the camera is being used. In case you’re interested in further technicalities of the upcoming sensor, you can check them out on the tweet below.
Crazy, Samsung is planning to use a 14nm process to make 144MP sensors. pic.twitter.com/H9PvLUuqYY
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 16, 2019
What may disappoint some of you is the fact that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S11 will NOT have this sensor. It, along with the successor to the Samsung Galaxy Fold, will feature a new 108MP sensor in place of the current 12MP one. It will be interesting to see how those perform against their competition from 2020. That might even give us an idea of how good the 144MP one will be.
While the 144MP resolution might not always result in a better looking picture, it might have other benefits. The best one I can think of is the possibility of a Hybrid Zoom. Samsung’s current telephoto only optically zooms 2x the original focal length. With a larger megapixel sensor, you can add an electronic zoom on top of that to have a higher zoom without compromising much on the quality of the image.
Of course, that would be possible if Samsung uses the same sensor for its telephoto camera but we’ll have to wait to find out. This was one of the many theoretical benefits of the future 144MP sensor. As of now, I can’t wait to see how good it is when it comes out.