Sony promises to stack the 48MP in a new optical sensor for smart phones

Smartpthone manufacturers have not released products with such resolution since 2012, when Nokia spoiled photo enthusiasts with the now-defunct range of PureView handsets.

Sony, a long-time company in the development of optical sensors for mobile phones, on the way to relaunch the megapixel race by launching the IMX586, a smartphone image sensor based on a new concept which allows to obtain a resolution of 48MP when the ambient light is sufficient, or 12MP in low light conditions [19659003] For the intended purposes, Sony has opted for a Bayer Quad color filter having a configuration of 2×2 type in which two joined pixels are sensitive to the same color. When the ambient light is sufficient, each pixel is "dosed" individually to obtain an effective resolution of 48MP. On the contrary, if the light is too weak, the two attached pixels are coupled to obtain a more accurate measurement, giving a 12MP image with a very low noise level.

Taking into account the timing to announce the new sensor, we can assume that Sony plans to use the Xperia XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX with the Xperia XZ3 tip as scheduled for its official debut at September IFA 2018.