When it comes to smartphone photography, large, high-resolution sensors are the way to go. OmniVision’s new breakthrough manages to do just that and then some.
In recent years, component manufacturers have shifted their focus to making larger image sensors with higher resolution and larger individual pixels. However, achieving growth on all three fronts comes with physical limitations such as size and weight. For example, features such as pixel binning were introduced to provide flexibility.
The new OmniVision OV64A image sensor takes that to the next level by packing a resolution of 64 MP over a large 1 / 1.32 inch image sensor with a pixel size of 1.0 µm. In comparison, Samsung’s popular ISOCELL HM1 image sensor spans 1 / 1.33-inch, but has significantly smaller pixels thanks to its 108MP resolution.
OmniVision claims the new sensor with 1.0 µm pixels is 60% light sensitive than its older 64 MP sensor with 0.8 µm pixels. Quad Bayer pixel binning can bring the pixel size to 2.0 µm for resulting 16 MP images. An interesting feature is the ability to record videos (up to 4K resolution) at the same level of binning for much better low-light performance and lossless digital cropping.
Other recording modes include 64MP recording at 15fps, 8K video at 30fps, 4K video at 120fps with EIS, 4K video at 60fps with 4C binning, 1080p at 240fps and more.
The OV64A sensor also supports 2- and 3-exposure-driven HDR timing option, giving OEMs more flexibility. The PureCel Plus-S stack also enables on-chip 3 exposure and on-chip tone mapping. This is faster than transferring processing to the phone’s chipset.
The component samples are now available to smartphone companies. Mass production is expected to begin later this year. “TSR estimates that 322 million image sensors with a resolution of 50 MP or higher will be shipped to smartphone manufacturers by 2021, offering a huge opportunity for OmniVision’s growing 64 MP portfolio,” said Arun Jayaseelan, marketing manager at OmniVision.
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