Samsung is working on a groundbreaking camera technology that will allow smartphones to hit up to a whopping 450 MP resolution. The company has trademarked the term “Hexa²pixel” which is described in the filing as “image sensors for photographic devices”.
This was originally spotted by GalaxyClub but now the tipster Ice Universe has also tweeted about the trademark and teased its resolution.
The tipster hints that the upcoming Hexa²pixel image sensor will be capable of 36-in-1 pixel binning (a group of 6×6 pixels merged into one). This is well above the currently available arrangements of Tetracell (2×2) and Nonapixel (3×3). If the target is 12MP resolution, then it means it will be compressing a whopping 432MP into a single image, which can be rounded to 450MP.
This is more than double the resolution of Samsung’s ISOCELL HP1 (1/1.22”, 0.64µm pixels) and the HP3 (1/1.4”, 0.56µm), both of which are 200MP sensors.
Both HP sensors have 12MP and 50MP output and given the “²” in Hexa²pixel, it will likely be capable of multiple outputs as well. If the arrangement is 3×3 or 6×6, then the output resolution should be 12MP and 48MP. Binning will be necessary since fitting that many pixels into a single image makes them tiny.
For now, we only know that Samsung is working on such a sensor and it is unclear when it will launch. We will likely hear more next year.
