Sony is tipped to be developing a new 200MP camera sensor for flagship devices which is speculated to go up against Samsung’s ISOCELL HP9 used in several flagships.
According to claims from China, Sony is developing a new, bigger camera sensor which may headline the upcoming flagship smartphones. This moves positions Sony directly against Samsung’s ISOCELL HP9 and ISOCELL HP2, currently used in numerous flagship smartphones like Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra or Vivo’s X200 Pro. This Sony Camera Sensor is tipped to function as the main driver and could be used in upcoming flagships launching this year. But the real question is – will it actually be better?
Upcoming 200MP Camera Sensor – More Megapixels, Same sensor size
More megapixels with same sensor size means the pixel size will be smaller. Sony’s upcoming sensor is expected to be larger than Samsung’s 1/1.3-inch 200MP options, meaning it could capture more light comparatively. However, fitting 200 million pixels into it means each pixel will be tiny-possibly sub-0.6 μm.
That is significantly smaller than the 1.0μm pixels used in 50 MP sensors. Also, smaller pixels struggle in low light condition which leads to more noise – a flaw seen in early high-MP sensors. Samsung sidesteps this flaw using pixel binning, where it merges 4 or 16 pixels into one to improve light. However, this affects the smooth bokeh achieved with larger pixels. Sony might likely do the same, but with already smaller pixels, the benefits could be very limited.
50 MP 1-inch and 200 MP 1/1.3-inch sensors
Currently, Samsung’s HP2 (Galaxy S25 Ultra) and HP9 (vivo X100 Ultra, X200 Pro and Xiaomi 15 Ultra) uses the 1/1.3-inch and 1/1.4-inch design respectively. Sony might also use the similar design for its sensor.
Even with computational tricks, it’s really hard to beat larger individual pixels. It is why Sony’s own 1-inch 50 MP LYT900 has been a beast in low-light.
The sensor seems to be targeted at the Chinese market, where camera specs drive the sale. The Japanese conglomerate is also expected to introduce the new sensor with phones powered by upcoming flagship SoCs such as MediaTek Dimensity 9500 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 and might also it in their own upcoming smartphones.
However, it still needs to see how this sensor fairs with the other sensors available in the market. Notably, the Samsung’s sensor which promises in-sensor zoom up to 4x while maintaining the details in photos. Also, as per Samsung it has end-to-end AI Remosaic which enables faster processing time, better details and color reproduction, as well as quick shutter speed.
