Samsung Galaxy S11 tipped to feature next-gen 108MP image sensor

Shawn Knight

Posts: 15,254   +192
Staff member
How we got here: Samsung earlier this year announced its ISOCELL Bright HMX camera sensor in collaboration with Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi. This mind-bending 108-megapixel image sensor could usher in a new era of smartphone photography and we won’t have to wait much longer to see what it is capable of.

Mobile tipster Ice Universe on Twitter claims there is a “high probability” that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S11 smartphone will feature “a new” 108-megapixel sensor. It’s unclear if the leaker is referring to the previously announced 108-megapixel sensor or quite literally a newer variant.


Samsung typically releases its Galaxy S phones in early March which would put it about four months out from today. When it was announced over the summer, Samsung said the 1/1.33-inch sensor would utilize pixel-merging Tetracell technology to combine four pixels into one, effective boosting low-light performance. The sensor is also capable of recording lossless video at 6K ((6,016 x 3,384 resolution) at 30fps.

We won’t have to wait until early next year to see what the sensor is all about. Xiaomi is launching the Mi CC9 Pro smartphone tomorrow that comes equipped with this very same sensor.

Of course, there’s a lot more that goes into a camera system than the sensor itself and as you should know by now, megapixel count isn’t always the most important part of the equation. There are plenty of cameras out there with high megapixel counts that flat out stink in terms of image quality. Let's hope this isn't one of them.

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I'm just hoping the Samsung S11 will improve their crappy in-screen fingerprint sensor and hopefully be able to embed the selfie camera behind the screen.

Overall I've been really pleased with the S10... at least it hasn't exploded on me yet.
 
At which point will the pixel density be so high that the wavelength of light is greater than the size of the pixel?
 
I don't care what new features there are. Quite happy with what I have. Just bring back removable damn battery and I'll buy your new damn phone.
 
It's just nuts to stuff THAT many pixels, inside a 1/1.3 sensor. When you stuff that many pixels in such a super tiny area, you run the risk of crosstalk, noise...especially in low light. Then, if not shooting in raw mode, the camera software, has to try to get rid of the noise (sparkles). After that, then the camera software will try to fix it, by putting crap back on the photo. Mostly, a bunch of extra megapixels is "only" good for zooming into a photo, without losing detail, especially for cropping.
Instead of all this crap, just put a LARGER sensor, not extra super tiny megapixels, use a retractable zoom lens. But the stylish, sexy slim crowd will be upset with the bump on the back.
 
It's just nuts to stuff THAT many pixels, inside a 1/1.3 sensor. When you stuff that many pixels in such a super tiny area, you run the risk of crosstalk, noise...especially in low light. Then, if not shooting in raw mode, the camera software, has to try to get rid of the noise (sparkles). After that, then the camera software will try to fix it, by putting crap back on the photo. Mostly, a bunch of extra megapixels is "only" good for zooming into a photo, without losing detail, especially for cropping.
Instead of all this crap, just put a LARGER sensor, not extra super tiny megapixels, use a retractable zoom lens. But the stylish, sexy slim crowd will be upset with the bump on the back.

That's why it's a quad Bayer design and the actual output will be 27MP greatly improving DR and noise performance.
 
It doesn't matter how good the sensors are, they will ruin the images with mandatory "enhancing" postprocessing filters making them look all artificial anyway. Millennials usually don't care if the images accurately represent reality or not, though. They will probably go "oooh, crisp and shiny!"
 
It's just nuts to stuff THAT many pixels, inside a 1/1.3 sensor. When you stuff that many pixels in such a super tiny area, you run the risk of crosstalk, noise...especially in low light. Then, if not shooting in raw mode, the camera software, has to try to get rid of the noise (sparkles). After that, then the camera software will try to fix it, by putting crap back on the photo. Mostly, a bunch of extra megapixels is "only" good for zooming into a photo, without losing detail, especially for cropping.

Thought crosstalk was only prevalent in headset audio products, didn't know it was also used for something else in camera sensors. Learned something new
 
Thought crosstalk was only prevalent in headset audio products, didn't know it was also used for something else in camera sensors. Learned something new
Yep, crosstalk, just simply means one signal, being injected into another signal. I don't know how old you are, but in "the old days" of telephone calls, it was common for the trunk lines, that carry hundreds of thousands of phone lines, a cut would allow outside moisture into the lines. It could corrode the insulation, along with the flexing of the line. Once the insulation was compromised, the electrical signals would interact between one line and the other. On the phone, it could result in static, or hearing another phone call in the background. On a fax machine (something I worked on), it would cause a screwed up reception, or no reception at all.
The phone company "fix" sometimes, because it was so expensive to repair or replace a trunk line, was since the lines were sealed, was at a junction, to inject liquid nitrogen into the line. That would dry the line up, and sometimes narrow down the source of where the crack/leak in the line was.
I had a notorious trunk line in my city, that anyone in the office machine business that had to deal with fax machines, was familiar with. They stuck a liquid nitrogen bottle at a switch/junction box and it was there FOR YEARS! I ran into an AT&T tech a couple years ago when I noticed they took down the nitrogen tank (it was about 4 feet tall). I asked if they had abandoned that trunk line, since the liquid nitro tank was gone. He started laughing and said, no, they FINALLY fixed the problem and it wasn't needed. He said that became quite the joke among his phone line buddies.
 
That's why it's a quad Bayer design and the actual output will be 27MP greatly improving DR and noise performance.

Small pixels can help improve the sharpness delivered by a lens, so having lots of pixels can be good even if there is a lot of diffraction, as would be the case in a smartphone. The Quad Bayer array however, means that color information is reduced even farther. If you don't pixel peep, that may not be much of a problem: you'll get slightly sharper images but greater smudging of colors, but it turns out that human vision isn't as sensitive to color changes as it is to luminosity changes.
 
Because you really need your selfie in 108 mpix resolution, so everyone can see your imperfections all the way to the molecular level.
 
It's to bad Samsung dropped they're camera line, this would of been great in a DSLR/Mirrorless camera. I'm still using an NX500, which is still a good little camera lol. 108MP :O, that's nice an all, I just hope I don't need a car's worth of a down payment to buy it lolz.
 
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