Sony announces 12.25 MP image sensor for camera phones, available starting March 2009
Samsung may have mumbled something about its 12 MP camera phones, but it’s Sony the company that actually announced the world’s first 12 MP CMOS image sensor for handsets.
The Asian half of the Sony Ericsson joint-venture has just gone official with IMX060PQ, a 1/2.5 CMOS image sensor from the Exmor series that, apparently, has the industry’s highest Megapixel count: 12.25 MP.
The new 12.25 MP sensor is equipped with autofocus and it will be available staring March 2009. Its price is said to be of 2,500 Japanese yen ($26), so the phones to include it should not be more expensive than the 8 Megapixel ones that are already on the market (like Sony Ericsson C905, Samsung Innov8 or LG Renoir).
Needless to say, the handsets that will include Sony’s IMX060PQ will be made by Sony Ericsson, so I guess we should expect some really hot Cyber-shot phones to come in 2009. After all, Ericsson mentioned something about super camera phones too.
Sony has also announced the upcoming release of the following image sensors:
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IMX046PQ, 1/3.2 CMOS with 8.11 MP
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IMX045PQ, 1/4 CMOS with 5.15 MP
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IU060F, 1/3.2 lens module with 12.25 MP
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and IU046F, 1/3.2 lens module with 8.11 MP
Sony says that, although they are extremely small, the new image sensors can deliver high-quality images. That’s thanks to several factors, including: a unique pixel structure, the implementation of a Cu process for fine interconnections, and Sony’s proprietary “Column-Parallel A/D Conversion technique”.
Let’s hope Sony knows what it’s doing and the higher Megapixel count will indeed make mobile photos look better than ever.
Source: Sony
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