While most of the smartphones released in the market come with Sony-manufactured mobile camera sensors, the company now aims to take sensors to the next level with the development of a 1-inch image sensor.
The information comes from a leakster who goes by the name @RODENT950. And while we don’t know how true is the leak, the tipster mentions that the sensor will be called IMX800 and is the world’s first 1″ mobile sensor. That statement is not entirely true since Panasonic was the only one in the past that released a device called the LUMIX CM1 with a 1″ sensor. That was seven years ago, and since then we have not seen any smartphone maker try to implement such a camera sensor on a smartphone, up until now.
Main + ultra wide + tele
Main + Ultra wide + periscope
Main + Ultra wide + tele + periscope + ToF https://t.co/5IWs05O3p6— Teme (็น็ฑณ)๐|๐ซ๐ฎ๐จ๐ณ (@RODENT950) February 24, 2021
Also, it should be noted that the LUMIX CM1 wasn’t exactly marketed as a smartphone, but rather, an Android-powered smart camera with smartphone capabilities (high-end configuration for its time). The CM1 also had a very large camera module to house the 1-inch sensor, so we wouldn’t be surprised if any new smartphone with the IMX800 would feature a similar design. @RODENT950 does also mention that the IMX800 could make its way to the upcoming Huawei P50 series smartphones.
Panasonic LUMIX CM1
The tipster also mentions that there will be three different P50 series smartphones, and also shares the expected camera configurations. The base Huawei P50 is expected to feature the main camera (obviously the IMX800), along with an ultra-wide camera and a telephoto shooter. The P50 Pro comes with the same camera setup, except for the fact that the telephoto camera is replaced with a periscope sensor. The rumored Huawei P50 Pro+ will in fact have all the cameras mentioned above, along with a ToF camera.
Sony and Samsung have already made large smartphone sensors that were closing the gap between standard mobile sensors and a 1-inch sensor. And it should be noted that Sony already makes 1-inch Exmor image sensors for its RX100 series compact professional cameras, which is very popular in the camera market.
