Smartphone camera sensors: OmniVision, Samsung ISOCELL and Sony Exmor
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Matrices OmniVision
OmniVision is the smallest and youngest, founded only in 1999, player in the photomatrix market. Gained weight by taking over Kodak's patent pool. At first, he specialized mainly in miniature matrices for the front cameras of smartphones. Was the main supplier of front sensors for the first iPhone models. But after Apple made a choice in favor of other manufacturers, OmniVision quickly expanded its portfolio with larger rear camera sensors. But to this day, compactness remains the main trump card of the company. In 2019, the OmniVision photosensor even entered the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest.
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The OV64B is the smallest and cheapest 64 megapixel sensor on the market (one pixel size is only 0.7 micrometers). The diagonal of the matrix is 1/2 inch, which is usually characteristic of 48 MP solutions from other brands. It is used in inexpensive smartphones that want to force numerous megapixels.
OV64A, on the contrary, is the largest 64-megapixel sensor with a diagonal of 1/1.3" (pixel size is 1 µm). Its light sensitivity is 60 percent higher than the aforementioned OV64B. And in low light conditions, the OV64A also combines four Quad Bayer pixels to form a 16-megapixel fast photo.
OV48C — and this is the largest 48 MP photomatrix. Its diagonal is 1/1.3", and the pixel size is 1.2 µm. By software merging, the size of the virtual pixel is increased to 2.4 µm. It is made from the most successful silicon wafers, due to which it has received an increased SNR coefficient (low level of electronic noise).
The OV50A is OmniVision's newest and flagship sensor. Despite the far from record-breaking 1/5 "diagonal (pixel size 1 µm), it supports Quad Phase Detection technology, thanks to which phase autofocus covers the entire sensor area. Can record 8K video at 60 frames per second, or 1080p @ 240fps and 720p @480fps.
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Samsung ISOCELL sensors
Samsung is a company that clearly needs no introduction and has a very extensive product range. Starting with household appliances, such as televisions, washing machines and refrigerators, and ending with automatic turrets for the border troops. Samsung also has its own factories for stamping semiconductor wafers, from which ARM processors, RAM, flash memory for SSDs, and finally photomatrices are subsequently cut. At first, not having enough experience, Samsung made ISOCELL sensors only for its own Galaxy smartphones, and not top models. But having become a little more adept, she even began to dictate trends — for ultra-high-resolution matrices.
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GM1 and GM2 are the most common 48 megapixel sensors on the market. Diagonal 1/2", pixel size 0.8 microns. For the maximum possible increase in light sensitivity, pixels are combined programmatically not by four, but by nine — Tetracell technology.
GW1 and GW2 — and these are slightly larger 64-megapixel matrices (1/1.7", 0.8 µm). There is also a cheaper modification GW3, also at 64 MP, but with a reduced diagonal of 1/2" and small pixels of 0.7 µm, designed to compete with OmniVision.
The GN2 is the largest 1/1.1-inch smartphone sensor to date. Given the moderate resolution of 50 MP, the physical pixel size is a gigantic 1.4 microns. And the larger the pixel, the more light it can catch, and the clearer the picture will be.
HM3 and HM2 are two varieties of 108-megapixel sensors. The first, larger (1/1.3", 0.8 µm), is currently used only in Samsung Galaxy smartphones. The second, smaller (1/1.5", 0.7 µm), is available to all smartphone manufacturers, for example, it is used in Realme 8 Pro.
The Realme 8 Pro is a well-balanced mid-range smartphone with the largest 108-megapixel camera yet. It is based on a large Samsung ISOCELL HM2 (1/1.5") matrix, which combines Tetracell 3x3 pixels to produce fast 12 MP photos. The main camera is complemented by three 8+2+2 MP modules.
The front selfie camera has a resolution of 16 MP and a sensor size of 1/3". It is located in a slot in the corner of the screen. The display with a diagonal of 6.4" and a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels is made using Super AMOLED technology. Thanks to this, it was possible to achieve a high brightness of 450 nits, as well as embed a fingerprint scanner directly into the screen.
The heart of the smartphone is the Qualcomm SM7125 SoC, better known as the Snapdragon 720G. It consists of two Kryo 465 Gold cores with a frequency of 2.3 GHz and six more Kryo 465 Silver 1.8 GHz. There is also an Adreno 618 graphics accelerator and, more importantly, a Spectra 350L co-processor responsible for accelerating the ultra-high resolution camera.
Realme 8 Pro is equipped with a battery of relatively small capacity — 4500 mAh. However, this is more than offset by the energy-efficient SoC process at 8 nanometers. As well as the Realme Dart 50W ultra-fast charging function (50% in 20 minutes, 100% in 50 minutes). In addition, this made the smartphone thin (only 8 mm) and light (about 170 grams).
Matrix Sony Exmor
Sony is a long-standing and respected manufacturer of first DSLRs, then mirrorless cameras, and now smartphone sensors. It is the largest of the trio of photomatrix manufacturers. It does not pursue record high megapixel numbers, but successfully transfers its proprietary developments from cameras to smartphones. It marks its matrices by series — the larger the first digit, the more elite the matrix class.
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IMX582 and IMX586 are low-cost matrices with a resolution of 48 MP, a diagonal of 1/2 "and a pixel size of 0.8 microns. Direct competitors of the aforementioned Samsung ISOCELL GM1 and GM2.
The IMX700 is the largest sensor in the Sony Exmor range and one of the largest on the market. At a resolution of 50 MP, it has a diagonal of 1/1.3" and, accordingly, a pixel size of 1 µm. Too bad it didn't become widespread.
The IMX789 and IMX766 are Sony's latest dual sensors, normal and wide-angle, at 48 and 50 MP, respectively. Diagonal 1/1.4 and 1/1.6", pixel size 1.1 and 1 microns. They are installed in smartphones as a pair at once and are optionally supplemented with tele- and macro-cameras.
The IMX682 and IMX686 are perhaps the most cost-effective Exmor matrices in terms of price-quality ratio. In terms of technical characteristics (64 MP, 1/1.7", 0.8 µm) they are full analogues of Samsung ISOCELL GW1 and GW2. But they have a higher SNR, that is, a lower level of electronic noise. The IMX682 sensor is used, for example, in the Realme 8 smartphone.
Realme 8 is a relatively inexpensive smartphone based on MediaTek's top 4G processor, namely the Helio G95. It has two high-performance ARM Cortex-A76 cores and six energy-efficient Cortex-A55 cores. Both those and others, with a frequency of 2 GHz. The integrated graphics accelerator is represented by Mali-G76 MC4. All this together is made on a 12-nm process technology.
Thanks to a powerful processor, as well as dual-channel LPDDR4X RAM (which is 4 or 6 GB), the smartphone gives out a result of about 1600 points in Geekbench 5 Multi-Core, and 300K points in AnTuTu 8. Permanent flash memory is represented by a no less fast 128-gigabyte UFS 2.1 chip.
Covered with tempered Super AMOLED glass, the screen has a compact 6.4-inch diagonal by today's standards and a resolution of 2400x1080 pixels, which results in an aspect ratio of 20:9 and an image density of 410 PPI. The side faces of the smartphone are made of metal, and the back panel is made of glossy plastic. The kit comes with a transparent silicone case.
The capacity of the built-in lithium-polymer battery is 5000 mAh. 30W Dart fast charging is supported (50% of the smartphone gains charge in about half an hour, and 100% in a little over an hour). The quartet of rear cameras (main, wide, macro and depth) is represented by 64, 8, 2 and 2 MP, respectively. The main module is based on the Sony Exmor IMX682 (1/1.7") matrix.
findings
Progress does not stand still and even more advanced photomatrices for smartphones have already been announced. So, Samsung is preparing ISOCELL JN1, the most compact and, more importantly, the thinnest 50 MP sensor (1/2.8", 0.6 microns). It will allow creating smartphones with a camera that does not protrude from the body at all. In turn, Sony is working on the Exmor IMX800 (50 MP), which will become the largest matrix for smartphones on the market — the diagonal is exactly 1 inch, and the pixel size is as much as 1.5 microns.Most likely, OmniVision will not take long to answer with an answer.
