Xiaomi recently announced that an upcoming Redmi device would be using the 64MP Samsung ISOCELL GW1 sensor. Tucked away at the end of the announcement was a teaser for an upcoming Mi series device which would be using an absolutely crazy 108MP sensor from Samsung that can take images with a resolution of 12,032 x 9,024 pixels. Xiaomi did not disclose too many details of the sensor, not even the official name, but today, Samsung has taken the opportunity to officially unveil the very same sensor. Meet the 108MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX -- the first mobile image sensor in the industry to go beyond 100 MP.

The Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX is the result of a close collaboration between Xiaomi and Samsung. The sensor sizes up to a large 1/1.33", allowing it to absorb more light in low-light scenarios. Of course, mobile sensors with high MP count rely on some form of pixel binning and the Bright HMX does so too with Samsung's Tetracell technology. This allows the sensor to merge four pixels into one, producing brighter 27MP images. The sensor also makes use of Smart ISO, a mechanism that selects the level of amplifier gains according to the lighting for optimal light-to-electric signal conversion. Smart ISO switches to low ISO in bright environments to improve pixel saturation and adopts a high ISO in darker scenes to help reduce noise. Bright HMX also supports video recording up to 6K (6016 x 3384) at 30fps, without losses in field-of-view.

Xiaomi and Samsung have worked closely together from the early conceptual stage all the way to production for the Bright HMX sensor. Mass production for the Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX will begin later this month. While neither Samsung nor Xiaomi has named the first smartphone with this sensor other than the fact that it will be a Xiaomi Mi device, early rumors suggest that the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 might be the first device with this sensor. It remains to be seen how competitors react to this development, especially since Realme actually managed to show off a prototype 64MP device a day after Xiaomi's announcement of the same.

Source: Samsung Newsroom