Update: You have to see what the world's first 200MP camera phone can shoot.
The main camera on the Samsung Galaxy S23 might have a ridiculously high resolution.
According to ETNews, Samsung is working on a 200MP camera sensor, officially named the ISOCELL HP3, with the plan to reportedly have the sensor ready to go on the company's flagship phone for 2023.
The HP3 sensor is a joint project between Samsung Mobile (the part of Samsung responsible for Galaxy phones and tablets) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics (responsible for building cameras, PCBs and more). The two divisions are set to share manufacturing duties, too.
While Samsung apparently wants to have this sensor on a Galaxy S23 phone, ETNews claims this isn't a finalized plan. That's because changing the sensor will require other new parts like lenses, memory and application processors to be in place as well. We'll have to wait for future rumors and leaks to tell us whether this plan pans out.
Samsung already has a 200MP camera sensor on offer, the ISOCELL HP1. It gives us a hint of what the HP3 could be capable of, like 8K video at 30 frames per second, and the choice of 200MP, 50MP or 12.5MP images depending on whether you're prioritizing detail or image brightness. But this sensor has yet to appear in either Samsung’s own phones or other companies' models. Perhaps Samsung and its clients decided the sensor wasn't quite ready for commercial use yet, and so we could see the explosion of 200MP camera phones appear once the refined HP3 is fully available.
The highest megapixel camera you'll currently find on a Samsung phone is the 108MP main camera on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, as well as previous Galaxy S Ultra phones. While its performance isn't quite good enough to knock the iPhone 13 Pro Max from its spot atop our best camera phones guide, it's still an excellent camera. But our main complaint with it would be Samsung's tendency to oversaturate the images in post-processing, not that the images lack detail or light. It would be interesting to see if Samsung could improve its photography with a 200MP sensor, or if it wouldn't address the current camera's limitations at all.
With the Galaxy S22 series still relatively new, we've got a bit of a wait before Samsung's likely to reveal the Galaxy S23 in early 2023. We'll be keeping an eye on all the rumors for you up for the time being, including suggestions that Samsung could adopt a Dimensity chipset for the Galaxy S23 rather than the usual Snapdragon or Exynos silicon. Check out our Galaxy S23 hub for all the latest rumors and leaks.
A later leak has claimed that this sensor won't be used on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, so we're hoping Samsung will go for an more developed 200MP sensor instead.
