Samsung 450-Megapixel Image Sensor In the Works, Suggests Trademark Application: Report

Samsung is reportedly working on an ISOCELL camera sensor with a whopping 450-megapixel resolution. The report comes after a Hexa2pixel trademark application by Samsung was spotted on KIPRIS in South Korea and TMView in Europe. Since the trademark doesn't mention the resolution or if it is a camera sensor or not, it is better to take this report with a pinch of salt. Last month, the South Korean tech giant had unveiled its 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP3 sensor with Tera2pixel technology. It succeeded Samsung's ISOCELL HP1 camera sensor.

The trademark application for Hexa2pixel has been submitted by Samsung. The application has appeared in South Korea and has also been spotted on TMView in Europe. According to a report by Sammobile, this trademark could mean that the company is working on a 450-megapixel sensor. However, the applications do not mention whether this particular trademark is for a camera sensor or a sensor with 450-megapixel resolution. Hence, these details should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Samsung's 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP3 image sensor with Super QPD auto-focus and Tetra2pixel technology was unveiled in June this year. The image sensor succeeded company's ISOCELL HP1 sensor. It has a 0.56-micron pixels (μm). It features 200 million pixels in a 1/1.4 optical format. Samsung claims that this image sensor can capture 8K videos at 30 frames-per-second (fps) with minimum loss in field of view.

The South Korean company had also announced that the 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP3 image sensor will enter mass production later this year. The Tetra2pixel technology enables the image sensor to operate as a 1.12-micron pixels or 2.24-micron pixels sized 50-megapixel sensor or 12.5-megapixel sensor for clicking better images in low light environment.

Although, Samsung is yet to fit the 200-megapixel image sensor in a Galaxy smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is expected to feature the ISOCELL HP3 sensor in 2023. Other smartphone brands, such as Motorola and Xiaomi, are also looking to unveil new handsets with a 200-megapixel camera sensor. Motorola Frontier is said to feature Samsung's slightly older 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP1 image sensor.