Samsung has revealed its third 200MP smartphone image sensor, confusingly called the Isocell HP2. Unlike the HP3, which is aimed at premium midrange devices, this new sensor is unabashedly aimed at flagship phones—like the company’s new S23 Ultra, the apex of its forthcoming Galaxy S23 series.
For this purpose, the HP2 is slightly larger than the HP3—claimed to have the industry’s smallest pixels—at 1/1.3 inches across, around the same size as the previous S22 Ultra‘s 108MP sensor. That means it has a pixel size of 0.6 microns, but the main benefit of the Samsung’s extreme megapixel count is its Tetra2pixel binning technology that effectively creates either 1.2μm pixels (through four-to-one pixel binning to 50MP) or 2.4μm pixels (through 16-to-one pixel binning to 12.5MP).
This gives the sensor greater flexibility in delivering either increased detail or reduced noise, depending on the lighting conditions. Low-light autofocus performance has also been improved with the addition of Super Quad Phase Detection (Super QPD), which utilises all 200 million pixels for focusing. This uses four adjacent pixels—all grouped under a single micro lens—to recognise both horizontal and vertical pattern changes for greater speed and accuracy.
Conversely, the HP2 is capable of reducing the occurrence of overexposure in brightly-lit environments using a new Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (D-VTG) technology. This adds a second voltage transfer gate to a photo diode within each pixel to transport electrons from the pixels to the logic layer. As a result, the pixel’s full-well capacity is boosted by over 33%, enabling the sensor to maintain the correct exposure and enhance colour reproduction.
Samsung is also touting an improvement in HDR performance through a new Dual Slope Gain (DSG) feature in 50MP mode, applying two separate conversion values to the analogue signal received at the pixel level. The HP2 also incorporates Smart-ISO Pro technology that merges different levels of ISO readouts from a single exposure, allowing the camera to take 12.5MP images and 4K 60fps videos in HDR. Lastly, the sensor is capable of switching to 50MP mode when shooting in 8K video (approximately 33MP) for a less severe crop.
All this sounds like a lot of jargon and hot air, but the proof is in the pudding—images purportedly taken from the S23 Ultra show extremely impressive Night Mode performance, the sensor retaining an incredible amount of light and detail. The S23 Ultra is also reportedly packing a whopping 30x Space Zoom feature that is also resulting in some eye-popping photos.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 series will be revealed on February 2 at 2:00am Malaysian time, expected to feature a custom version of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip that should let it run slightly faster than other Android smartphones with the same chip. Malaysian pre-orders are expected to start right after the announcement as we’re one of Samsung’s key markets; you can already get a RM200 discount on these devices if you register your interest online.
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