Omnivision presents largest camera sensor for smartphones since 2012

Omnivision has presented the largest camera sensor for smartphones in recent years. The OV48C has a resolution of 48 megapixels and individual pixels are 1.2 microns in size. The surface area of ​​the sensor is more than twice the size of other 48MP sensors.

Illustration of the size of the OV48C versus the IMX586

The sensor has an area of ​​about 70 square millimeters, more than twice the size of the 30 square millimeters of the Sony IMX586, which was in many smartphones last year. It also has a resolution of 48 megapixels, but the pixels of the Sony sensor are much smaller. The IMX586 has pixels of 0.8 microns, those of the Omnivision sensor are 1.2 microns. Only the sensor of the Nokia 808 Pureview from 2012 is larger, with an area of ​​85 square millimeters.

In addition, Omnivision equips its 1/1.3″ sensor with a full Bayer layout, which also differs from other high-resolution camera sensors. Samsung’s IMX586 and sensors have a quad-Bayer layout, with groups of four pixels. together with the same color filter.The Omnivision sensor is the largest for a modern smartphone, being slightly larger than Samsung’s 108 megapixel GW1 sensor, which is in the Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

The sensor allows phones to take photos at 48 megapixels and 12 megapixels. Filming at 4k resolution is possible at 60fps. It is still unknown when the first smartphones with this sensor will appear. Omnivision has samples, but the sensor doesn’t seem to have gone into mass production yet.