Apple's iPhone may take the top spot as the most popular camera in the world, but it's Sony's sensor technology powering all those pixels in those photographs.
Sony's imaging technology just took up another notch today with its latest IMX318 CMOS Exmor RS sensor for smartphones. This latest camera chip is touted as the first ever of its kind with a stacked CMOS image sensor with built-in autofocus and a 3-axis electronic image stabilizer.
What does all that mean? Basically, it means that the latest smartphones packing Sony's newest camera sensor technology will be able to take clearer, crispier photos because it can focus with lightning speed all while keeping the effects of your shaky hands down to the barest minimum.
What makes the IMX318 sensor so special is its stacked design. It's something Sony has incorporated in its larger devices such the professional point-and-shoot RX100 series of cameras.
The sensors are built by stacking two image chips on top of each other. One chip captures the image pixels, while the other chip contains the sensor's circuitry. The result is class-leading imagery in the smallest of spaces possible, and now the same technology can be had in smartphones.
Besides creating the industry's first stacked CMOS image sensor, Sony also claims the IMX318 Exmor RS's hybrid auto-focus to be an industry first, as well. Just like the latest Sony A6300 camera, this sensor's 0.03-second autofocus boasts the fastest speed in any sensor made for mobile devices.
Moreover, no other sensor has ever packed 3-axis electronic image stabilization before the Exmor RS. Finally, even though it is smaller in size and unit pixels than its predecessor, Sony states that the IMX318 still matches it in quality and "enhanced resolution" of 22.5-megapixel.
Sony says its new camera chip will ship out to phonemakers by May 2016, so it is quite possible to see the next iPhone equipped with this sensor. Moreover, Sony claims on its website that the new Exmor RS image sensor was made "for smartphones and other devices that require increasingly better cameras and thinner form factors." This would certainly match Apple's current thinner and lighter design philosophy.
Photo: Chad Kainz | Flickr
