Xiaomi teases phone with 48MP camera, coming in January

05 December 2018
Both Sony and Samsung announced 48MP modules this year. For comparison, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a 40MP sensor.

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • 2Iq
  • 07 Dec 2018

It's good to know Xiaomi is challenging the limits of computational photography.

    • D
    • Dragos
    • mtk
    • 06 Dec 2018

    Not quantity matters, but quality.
    For example, a Samsung phone takes better pictures than a Xiaomi that has a bigger camera.
    All cars have four wheels and a steering wheel, but not all are Mercedes ...

      baguette, 05 Dec 2018And at the same time, Google Pixel3 offers an astonishing q... moreIn photography, the sensor size is what matters the most. Given exactly the same processing and equally well designed lens, a camera with a larger sensor will always outperform the one with a smaller sensor.

        Shanti Dope, 05 Dec 2018It's not always the megapixel war that matters. The high m... moreThey won't be able to stack 48MP images together though, that would be too much information for ISP to handle.

          1/2" is a TINY sensor! Nokia 808 sensor is 2.77x bigger, heck even the Nokia N8 from 2010 has a 20% bigger sensor (with 12MP)! This is not even close in the same league as 808 and even after 8 years, these don't even compare to the N8 sensor! So sad.

          The actual size of the sensor has probably the biggest influence on image quality, and after a certain point (12MP is more than enough) it does not matter into how many pixels it is divided. The physical area catching the photons is the real deal = sensor size and not MPs.

          Sensor Size Comparison:
          Nokia 808 sensor (41MP) 1/1.2" = 10.67 mm x 8 mm
          Area = 85.36 mm2.

          Nokia N8 (2010!, 12MP): 1/1.83" = 7.1 mm x 5.2 mm
          Area = 36.92 mm2.

          (48 MP) 1/2" sensor= 6.4 mm x 4.8 mm
          Area = 30.72 mm2.

            Anonymous, 05 Dec 2018DSLR are still way ahead of smartphone cameras. It would ta... moreDSLR aren't really far ahead in my opinion, brain always beats brawn and revolution typically comes from scarcity( smartphone cameras limitations) it's because dslrs are so good why they won't develop too much and smartphones will rely on computational photography a huge disadvantage for dslrs and their lack of high end chipsets

              • cr
              • D0g
              • 06 Dec 2018

              fernando, 05 Dec 2018is it good for low light photos?Yeah.It will preserve more detail.And xiaomi already have an night mode.but idk what they're gonna do with that.If they combine both it will be a beast.

                Russeljrjs, 06 Dec 2018those 12MP modules, were not cheap... look it upYes they are. You look it up instead.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • 6p$
                  • 06 Dec 2018

                  Shanti Dope, 05 Dec 2018It's not always the megapixel war that matters. The high m... moreThey won't mess up processing I am sure. They are xiaomi, not sony. Sony is the only brand that mess up a lot in processing.

                    Anonymous, 05 Dec 2018Nothing will beat the 1020 and it's 1/1.17 sensor and norma... moreLumia 1020 has actually 1/1.5" sensor. Smaller than 808 1/1.2" sensor.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • KS2
                      • 06 Dec 2018

                      No xenon flash

                        • Moj
                        • 0p}
                        • 06 Dec 2018

                        did they forget lumia 1020?
                        https://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_lumia_1020-5506.php

                          Whackcar, 05 Dec 2018Excellent! We're finally getting rid of the cheap 12 MP cam... morethose 12MP modules, were not cheap... look it up

                            Did anyone remeber that Nokia was the one who invented this technology? the Pixel binning one, where 4 pixels were combined into one pixel to create a smaller but higher quality photo? it was Called the Nokia PureView tech. It was used in the Lumia 1020 and the Nokia 808, both with 1/1.5" BSI and 1/1.2" FSI image sensor.... It's quite funny that after all this while, these newer companies are just realising the true potential of this tech.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • pe6
                              • 05 Dec 2018

                              Looks at least like a dual lense setup on the picture. Even though the mi note 4 is speculated to have a triple cam on the back.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • XUm
                                • 05 Dec 2018

                                Anonymous, 05 Dec 201812MP is so 2009, and 10 years later we expect something rev... moreDSLR are still way ahead of smartphone cameras. It would take a while to even catch-up with them.

                                  • f
                                  • fernando
                                  • Jjj
                                  • 05 Dec 2018

                                  is it good for low light photos?

                                    Kai Sosceles, 05 Dec 2018Have we learned nothing from the Megapixel Wars? 48MP ph... moreIt's not always the megapixel war that matters.
                                    The high megapixel count is there to allow for better pixel binning in low light, and at the same time, also allow for excellent detail levels in daylight.

                                    With this sensor, Xiaomi could perform multi-frame image stacking in daylight in full 48MP resolution for an insane level of image clarity (hope they don't mess up the processing though) and in low light, it would still perform the multi-frame image stacking but with the benefit of pixel binning, which enlarges the pixels up to 2 times (at the cost of 1/4 the full resolution, which I doubt would matter in low light scenarios) and allow for better light gathering.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • fkP
                                      • 05 Dec 2018

                                      Nothing will beat the 1020 and it's 1/1.17 sensor and normal pixel size not this 0.8 pixel binning marketing spam

                                        baguette, 05 Dec 2018And at the same time, Google Pixel3 offers an astonishing q... moreSince size doesn't matter, why don't we simply conserve a lot of space and use a tiny 1/5" sensor instead??