Samsung builds the world’s highest resolution phone camera sensor: 200 MP

Samsung’s latest oversized camera sensor is the “Isocell HP1”. It has a massive 200 MP sensor, making it the highest resolution smartphone camera sensor ever. If you saved an image of it at full resolution, you would end up with something like a 16,384 × 12,288 image.

Megapixels don’t matter – what matters most to image quality is the size of each pixel, as larger pixels (and larger sensors) capture more light. Samsung is, however, trying to cover both bases with pixel binning, which merges multiple pixels into a larger pixel for low-light situations. The HP1 features a “brand new” variable pixel clustering technology called “ChameleonCell,” which allows the sensor to cluster at 2 × 2 or 4 × 4, depending on the amount of light.

At 4 × 4, you lower the 200 MP sensor down to 12.5 MP by merging sets of 16 pixels. This will transform the full-resolution 0.64m pixels into a respectable 2.56m pixel, which Samsung says “is capable of more light absorption and sensitivity, producing brighter and clearer photos at inside or in the evening “.

Samsung’s other oversized sensor on the market is the GN2, which has appeared in the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra and a couple of other phones. The GN2 is only a 50MP sensor, but with quad-pixel binning it would go to a pixel size of 2.8μm. The GN2 is a larger overall sensor with bigger pixels, so on paper it should still be able to shoot better.

Samsung says its 200 MP sensor is sampling now. We are sure that some Android OEMs will accept the company’s offer soon.