Samsung has announced three new ISOCELL camera sensors: ISOCELL GNJ, ISOCELL HP9, and ISOCELL JN5. None of these are the company’s flagship camera sensors, but they can be great sub-cameras (telephoto and ultrawide) for smartphones.
We can expect many Android smartphone brands, including Samsung, to use these sensors in the future.
50MP ISOCELL GNJ, 200MP ISOCELL HP9, and 50MP ISOCELL JN5 camera sensors announced
Samsung has announced the 50MP ISOCELL GNJ, 200MP ISOCELL HP9, and 50MP ISOCELL JN5 camera sensors. These cameras will likely be used for telephoto and ultrawide cameras in high-end smartphones.
ISOCELL GNJ
The ISOCELL GNJ is a 50MP sensor with 1µm pixels and a 1/1.57-inch optical format. It features dual-pixel autofocus, which means it offers great focus accuracy and speed, even in low-light and other challenging conditions. It also features in-sensor zoom functionality to offer optical-quality zoom on top of the optical zoom lens with which it will be paired, offering further zoom without much loss in image quality.
It uses an improved anti-refractive layer and high-refractive microlens to boost light-gathering quality and reduce unwanted reflections. This ensures that dark areas are not brightened more than they should be, offering natural-looking images. It also uses a new material called silicon oxide between two pixels, an upgrade from polysilicon, reducing crosstalk and noise.
This sensor is also more power-efficient. It consumes 29% less power in preview mode and 34% less power while recording 4K 60fps videos.
ISOCELL HP9
The ISOCELL HP9 is Samsung’s latest 200MP camera sensor. It has a 1/1.4-inch optical format and 0.56µm pixels. Samsung claims it offers 12% higher light sensitivity and 10% improved autofocus contrast performance compared to the ISOCELL HP3. It can be used for both primary and telephoto cameras and has already been used for the Vivo X100 Ultra’s telephoto camera.
It uses highly refractive microlens with a new material to gather light more efficiently and direct it more accurately to the RGB color filter. This offers more accurate color reproduction, 10% faster autofocus, and 12% better light sensitivity. Thanks to its 4×4 pixel binning, it can perform well even in low-light conditions. It can also create a more believable background blur effect.
This camera sensor offers 2x and 4x in-sensor zoom modes and can offer up to 12x optical-quality zoom when paired with just a 3x optical zoom lens.
ISOCELL JN5
Today, Samsung’s second 50MP camera sensor announcement is the ISOCELL JN5. It is a 1/2.76-inch sensor that will most likely be used by smartphone brands for ultrawide cameras. Thanks to improved autofocus and a broader color range, it offers a consistent camera experience.
It uses Samsung’s Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (Dual VTG) technology to increase charge transfer within pixels, reducing noise in low-light conditions. It also features Super Quad Phase Detection (Super QPD) for autofocus, comparing horizontal and vertical phase differences.
For improved dynamic range and HDR performance, it uses Dual Slope Gain (DSG). It amplifies the analog light into two signals, converts them into digital information, and then combines them to expand the range of colors.
The ISOCELL JN5 uses hardware remosaic algorithms to improve the capture speed and real-time zoom preview. Thanks to its relatively small size, it can be used as a front-facing, telephoto, or ultrawide camera.
Jesuk Lee, Executive Vice President and CTO of the System LSI Sensor Business Team at Samsung Electronics, said, “Enhancing image sensor performance and bridging the gap between main and sub cameras to offer a consistent photography experience across all angles is the new direction of the industry. We will continue to set industry standards and push technological boundaries with our new lineup of mobile sensors that integrate the latest advancements.“