The Xiaomi 12S Ultra?s 1-inch camera sensor was a $15 million collaborative

[phillynewsnow]

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra?s 1-inch camera sensor was a $15 million collaborative effort with Sony



Despite Sony being one foot out of the door in terms of consumer smartphones, the company is still working behind the scenes creating camera sensors used in many smartphones today. Recently, the company made waves when they announced the IMX989 sensor, a 1-inch sensor designed specifically for mobile devices.Shortly after, Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, the first smartphone to take advantage of the new sensor, and now we know why the company got first dibs. In a post on Weibo, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun revealed that the development of the IMX989 sensor was a collaborative effort between Sony and Xiaomi, and that the project cost a whopping $15 million.

He also revealed that both companies would be splitting the bill equally, but even then, $7 million to develop a sensor for a smartphone’s camera is still nothing to sneeze at. We expect that Xiaomi will be able to recoup their investment because the CEO says that the use of the sensor will not be exclusive to Xiaomi and that other smartphone makers are welcome to it as well (assuming they are willing to pay for it).

That being said, we feel that sensor size is more important than megapixel count. Larger sensors can allow more light to be captured, which in turn can increase details, better background and foreground separation, and also better images taken in low-light, all of which are good things. We’re not sure who is expected to utilize the sensor next, but it will be interesting to see some samples taken by the phone.

Source: Lowyat



The post The Xiaomi 12S Ultra?s 1-inch camera sensor was a million collaborative effort with Sony first appeared on Phandroid.



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