Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7, has ditched phase detection autofocus (PDAF) in favor of another technology called Dual Pixel Autofocus. This makes the S7 the first phone to employ this technology.
The phone's predecessor, the Galaxy S6, sports PDAF, regardless of whether you are referring to the model which uses Samsung's in-house ISOCELL sensor or the variant with Sony's IMX240 sensor.
There is no denying that smartphone manufacturers these days try to catch the attention of customers, particularly photography enthusiasts, by adding in new state-of-the-art technologies into their newly developed devices. Among the newest technologies which were packed into new phones range from fast autofocus, image stabilization and enhanced performance in low-light conditions.
Samsung has decided to introduce the Dual Pixel Autofocus into this year's latest model plus a 12-megapixel camera in an effort to win over the hearts of more consumers.
What Does Dual Pixel Autofocus Exactly Mean For Mobile Photographers?
Samsung highlighted in a blog post the importance of this new technology for its newest device.
With the Dual Pixel image sensor, the Galaxy S7's snapper allows for fast shooting while making sure that a great image quality is produced, "regardless of lighting conditions."
"The Dual Pixel image sensor employed in the camera of the Galaxy S7 splits every single pixel into two photodiodes for on-chip phase detection, promising vastly improved autofocus performance," says Samsung.
In other words, the phone uses two photodiodes for every single pixel. Rather than 5 to 10 percent of the pixels is being used for focusing, the S7 now uses 100 percent of the pixels. This enables the sensor to be speedy and accurate, locking into the subject regardless of where it is placed within the frame.
Samsung says that the Dual Pixel Autofocus technology in the smartphone is most evident when the owner takes photos in a low-light environment.
PDAF, in the meantime, only employs "less than 5 [percent] of the pixels" for phase-detection autofocus.
Furthermore, the Galaxy S7 is fitted with 1.4um pixels (a 56 percent improvement in size as opposed to its predecessor) along with a huge F1.7 aperture (allowing for 25 percent more brightness than the S6).
The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge will hit the shelves in mid-March this year.
Here is how the Samsung Galaxy S7 compares to Galaxy S6 in terms of autofocus speeds:
