We explain, in detail, the reasons to think that the 200 MP sensors are here to stay and others for which we believe that this will not be the case.
The cameras of Android smartphones have not stopped evolving over the last few years, increasing both their number and quality. A good proof of this is that until recently there were no 100-megapixel photographic sensors and now two of the major mobile brands worldwide, Samsung and Xiaomi, are already working to include a new 200 megapixel sensor in its future flagships.
Currently, there are only two manufacturers that have developed 200 megapixel sensors: Omnivision with the recently announced OVB0A and Samsung itself with the Isocell HP1 and Isocell HP3.
Samsung is the manufacturer that is most strongly committed to 200 MP and already has two photographic sensors with that resolution.
In this sense, surely you have asked yourself, just like me, whether 200 megapixel sensors are the future or not and, for that reason, today we come to give you 3 reasons to think that it will be like this and another 3 to think the opposite.
3 reasons to think that 200 MP sensors are here to stay
The first reason to think that 200 megapixel cameras are the future lies in the fact that brands are always trying to improve the photographic quality of their terminals and the more resolution their main camera has. more quality will have the photographs and videos made with this.
Second, and related to the above, higher resolutions require more bandwidth to move the data to the smartphone’s processor, and this is something that can be exploited to achieve lower resolutions at higher frame rates. Thus, for example, the Omnivision OVB0A sensor is capable of taking pictures of 200 MP at 8 fps, 50 MP at 30 fps or 12.5 MP at 120 fps with the help of pixel binning.
Precisely, other reasons that lead us to think that 200 MP cameras are here to stay is that they are equipped with the technology of pixel binningwhich allows the sensors to capture more light, achieving sharper photos with less noise, even in low light conditions.
3 reasons to think that 200 MP cameras have no future
The main reason that leads us to think that 200 megapixel sensors have no future is that, despite their high resolution, its pixel size is relatively small.
Photo sensors with small pixels tend to generate noisy images with poor dynamic range and while pixel binning helps reduce these effects, a larger pixel still performs better than a smaller one. This means that a native pixel of 2.24 µm will always catch more light than a pixel binning of 2.24 µm.
Second, it is not at all clear that the lenses that accompany these sensors are capable of focus light sharply enough to resolve 200MP into such a small area.
Finally, we believe that 200 megapixel sensors are not here to stay because this resolution it is excessive even for the recording of videos in 8K qualitysince this one only needs 33 MP, and, in addition, you will not notice the difference between the photographs taken with a camera of 108 megapixels and those taken with these new cameras 200 megapixels.