Large sensor cameras are a white whale for smartphone imaging engineers. Even the most efficient smartphone cameras use relatively small sensors, and efforts to bring larger sensors into the mobile form factor Impractical, ImportantOr Never really worked. Xiaomi seems to be the latest company to try to capture the elusive concept with its upcoming 12S Ultra flagship.
According to a post on Weibo Discovered by Android Commission, The phone will have a 1-inch type sensor developed in conjunction with Sony. It’s about 1.7 times larger than the 1 / 1.33-inch sensor in the main camera module of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. This is the same size sensor Sony’s $ 1300 Cyber-shot RX100 VII This is more or less the final, ultimate boss form of the small camera.
No one can capture the camera of a 1-inch smartphone, including Sony, because this is a big deal: its Xperia Pro-I has that size sensor. But uses only a part of it. The larger sensor, larger pixels and larger optical connectivity provide significant image quality benefits on smaller, traditional smartphone cameras, especially in low light.
Xiaomi did not stand for censorship either: the company called on Leica to cooperate, however It’s far from the camera of Leica’s first smartphone Project. Frankly, the collaboration of traditional camera makers with smartphone OEMs does not result in more than one badge on the camera. Lots of marketing plaster. In this case, at least Xiaomi is involved in co-developing – and making money – new hardware. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun says Xiaomi and Sony split the $ 15 million cost to build the new sensor.
Unfortunately, the 12S Ultra is unlikely to be sold in the US because it is very difficult for Chinese brands to gain a foothold in this market. However, it will not be long before the phone is fully released: Xiaomi says it will launch the 12S Ultra to the world on July 4 at 7pm China Standard Time.
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