Samsung
has long been at the top of its game when it comes to camera
performance and now its video performance could be about to get a whole
lot more exciting for the Galaxy S and Note ranges.
According to a report this week in etnews,
Samsung has designed a new image sensor capable of capturing up to
1,000 frames per second (fps), with mass production due to start in
November. Such a sensor will allow for 40x slow motion video capture, as
seen in Sony’s competing XZ Premium smartphone and faster than Apple’s
new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X.
The Samsung Galaxy S9 Camera could exceed the capabilities of the Galaxy Note 8 (pictured) Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
Samsung’s sensor consists of a
three-layer design with logic processing and fast memory built into the
chip. The addition of on-chip memory enables the new sensor to store the
video data locally at high speed before it is eventually saved by the
camera app. However, this also means that the maximum duration of the
slow-motion video is limited by the amount of memory built into the
sensor and is therefore likely to span no more than a few seconds.
Samsung’s design is a little different
from Sony’s (which also uses a three-layer chip) in that the memory is
bonded to the rear surface of an existing two-layer sensor design rather
than sandwiched between the image sensor and logic components.
According to the report, this change
is simply a way for Samsung to avoid infringing Sony’s patents. The
technique suffers disadvantages in terms of both productivity and cost,
as a failure in just one of the three layers results in the whole chip
being discarded. However, Samsung does have a competitive advantage in
its ability to incorporate its home-grown memory chips rather than
sourcing them from a third party.
Samsung’s new three-layer sensor is
expected to debut in the next generation of Galaxy smartphones, although
if previous Galaxy releases are anything to go by, Samsung is likely to
use its sensors interchangeably with equivalent Sony versions with
customers essentially taking pot luck as to which version they receive.
A 1000fps video capability in the
Galaxy S9 would outpace the newly released iPhone 8 and iPhone X
handsets, which are capable of 240 fps, but the limited recording time
would restrict this advantage to very short clips which some will view
as more of a gimmick than a serious video recording feature.
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