More details about Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 200 MP camera emerge

12 September 2022
The sensor will be 1/1.3” in size with an f/1.7 lens in front.

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • Lkg
  • 12 Sep 2022

Nick Tegrataker, 12 Sep 2022Samsung's own engineers are probably laughing at thems... moreWell, sorry to inform.
But only advantage of GN2 over GN5/GN3 is size.
Everything else is worse.
Xiaomi could easily have used for 12s Pro, but it is done with it.
Samsung Semicon has finally realised that dual pixel with 2x2 OCL does not end well.

Anyway, the more MP it has the more digital zoom samsung is gonna advertise. Do not be surprised if they start with 300x or 500x digital zoom.
Also, the excess of HDR shall be even more.

Get ready for the upcoming 25 to 1 and 36 to 1 ...

    I like how when people immediately see higher megapixels

    But if you actually critically think you can factor in other variables like the pixel lay out , the color pixel lay out the size of the sensor etc

    People that think higher megapixels equals better camera and people that think high megapixels cameras automatically means poor sensor are too extremist people of the same kind.. the irony

    You are no different from a customer that makes a judgement at a glance

    Outcome /performance is a better judgement of sensors

      • J
      • John Ibrahim
      • XSm
      • 12 Sep 2022

      Dubsmachine, 12 Sep 2022Samsung, stop the camera spec increases and focus on gettin... moreits September.. final prototype should be out around this time before it heads for production

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • Lkg
        • 12 Sep 2022

        you have to suffer, 12 Sep 2022pixel binning are just marketing purposes. also the nokia 8... moreNot marketing. They are phisically side by side.
        Signal of them is read together.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • n1h
          • 12 Sep 2022

          Jagganatha, 12 Sep 2022IMHO "pixel-binning' is a myth. As a photographer... moreWhile I don't dismiss pixel binning as a myth completely, I'm highly skeptical of this multi-bayer pixel binning. To cut it short, I don't believe a 1/33" 108mp sensor with 0.8micron pixels nona bayer binned to 2.4micron pixels giving 12mp output is any better than a 1/33' 12mp sensor with normal 2.4micron pixels.

          Their claim of multi bayer sensor's superiority is noise reduction with the ability to choose least noisy of the 9 pixels (as it's a nona bayer sensor). However, I'm skeptical of that because it requires taking output from each one of the 9 pixels from a grid. However, multi bayer sensors are said to treat all 9 pixels as a larger 2.4micron pixel (as in isocell HM3), otherwise, low light performance with those 0.8micron pixels would be atrocious. Given that low light images are generally good from these phones nowadays, it's quite obvious they're physically combining 9 pixel into 1 larger pixel, and not averaging the output from each of the 9 smaller pixels. But this means that claim of noise reduction by picking least noisy pixels is simply untrue.
          On top of that, it seems that physically combining 4, 9, 16 or even 36 pixels into one larger pixel is a messy and lossy process unlike just using 1 larger pixel because light would be lost in the gaps between each pixels.

          So why are these multi-bayer sensors so popular? The answer is marketing. It's a cheap way to increase megapixel count and also promote this 8k gimmick.

          So is pixel binning completely useless? Well no, only if you're doing it in PureView style. Which means using a large, high resolution RGB sensor with reasonably good pixel size. Then downscaling that high resolution image it to a convenient resolution such as 12mp or 16mp with some clever algorithms to eliminate as much noise as possible. It's a well know fact that an image downscaled from higher resolution with still retain more detail and quality than an image shot at this lower resolution to beging with. Not only that, these downscaled images look smoother, giving them a natural, organic look

          Unfortunately, there simply isn't any mobile camera sensor out there with high enough RGB resolution. The closest is 108mp Isocell HMX with 0.8 micron pixels which does quad bayer binning to produce 27mp images with 1.6micron binned pixels. Few phones with this sensor are Motorola Edge+ 2020, Xiaomi Mi 10 series, Mi note 10/pro, Mi 11 etc.

            • J
            • Josh
            • fjU
            • 12 Sep 2022

            Nick Tegrataker, 12 Sep 2022Samsung's own engineers are probably laughing at thems... moreI hope to God it will not be a gimmicky sensor just for marketing display purposes, because the competitors are already releasing phones with cameras that beat the S22 Ultra's "Nightography". The S23 Ultra should rather harness the full potential of the 200mp camera, especially for video.

              • J
              • Josh
              • fjU
              • 12 Sep 2022

              TheLastOracle, 12 Sep 2022Hopefully Samsung improves this sensor even further than th... moreI wonder why, they decided not to increase the sensor or pixel size. Maybe the sensor has other elements to combat the noise and increase brightness etc etc etc. Maybe the software will compliment its lack of increase to bigger pixels and a bigger sensor. They probably deem its features like 14-bit colours, HDR and video capabilities more useful than the raw spec sheet of the sensor.

                • J
                • Josh
                • fjU
                • 12 Sep 2022

                Dubsmachine, 12 Sep 2022Samsung, stop the camera spec increases and focus on gettin... moreMaybe that's exactly why the 200mp camera isn't a say 1 inch sensor with a F1,5 aperture and other larger numbers. Because optimising software for the new sensor and nailing other important aspects like noise reduction, natural colours and faster image stabilization is priority over raw specs and crazy numbers on paper. The experience matters more!

                  Samsung's own engineers are probably laughing at themselves at this point because they know more than anybody else that cramming in as many pixels as they can into a sensor and then using 16-1 binning to produce a 12MP image is the most roundabout and meaningless process that will only benefit them from a marketing standpoint.

                  Just give us an updated GN2 with 12-bit triple-gain HDR readout mode, thank you. 50MP Tetracell would make much more sense than this 200MP bullcrap.

                    Hopefully Samsung improves this sensor even further than the 14-bit color depth of the ISOCELL HP3, by increasing the ADC accuracy to 12-bit, or merge three readout instead of two, in their SmartISO. That alone should noticeably improve image quality.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • Lkg
                      • 12 Sep 2022

                      Jagganatha, 12 Sep 2022IMHO "pixel-binning' is a myth. As a photographer... moreReports from China say photos have tons of sharpening and people's hair get smeared.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • pdq
                        • 12 Sep 2022

                        Well the Samsung was never known for wise and mature solutions. 200MP confirms nothing has changed.

                          • n
                          • not impressed
                          • nDJ
                          • 12 Sep 2022

                          I do not give a damn how many mega-micro-pixels are there, this is mostly bullshit marketing.
                          What matters is the lens and sensor size for its light gathering capability and arguably at the same sensor size a sensor without binning has some advantages, not the least being using less processing power which means more battery life as well as a more natural look for the photos.
                          By sensor size even the new Motorola Edge 30 Ultra wins with 1/1.22 vs 1/3, although SAMSUNG processing algorithm might yield better images.
                          This one should be decided only after testing...

                            • m
                            • mato
                            • Mmc
                            • 12 Sep 2022

                            its not the samsung but other companies like snapchat that needs to get it right

                              gmenelau, 12 Sep 2022i hope to have SD ! unfortunately no

                                Jagganatha, 12 Sep 2022IMHO "pixel-binning' is a myth. As a photographer... morepixel binning are just marketing purposes. also the nokia 808 pureview was the real camera phone. even all present flagships cant beat the nokia 41mp cameras.

                                  Plan, 12 Sep 2022Really good camera sensor, unlike the 108mp one, this one c... moreExactly, most people think the 200MP sensor is useless, they don't know it's main focus is video recording. It can bin to different resolutions for different purposes

                                    • J
                                    • Jagganatha
                                    • 0R7
                                    • 12 Sep 2022

                                    IMHO "pixel-binning' is a myth. As a photographer, because there is no advantage in having less resolution (!!!! Sorry but it is yawningly OBVIOUS!!!!) what manufacturer of sensors would cripple its own product by reducing resolution to 12 MP from 108? Or to 12 from 48MP? Not one!!
                                    However since we all love higher resolutions they claim 108MP or 200MP or, as in the newest Pro 14 iPhones 48MP, except you only use it at 12MP??
                                    I'd say that as results at the higher figures extract no more detail than at the used 12MP, that the claims of 108MP or 200MP are totally fraudulent and simply put, they are interpolating their 12MP up 4x or 9x to be able to claim these figures at all.
                                    Interested in buying an improvement on my Nokia 1020 I have searched for years to find anything that matches it ACTUAL 41MP resolution from its 1/1.5" (8.80x6.60) sensor because its a Windows 10 phone with few apps now, but despite the fact that at 400iso its too noisy, it has at least the resolution of detail equal to a Nikon D850!! whereas 12MP resolution is the same as the Nokia N8 and the Nikon D3 from 2008, and 12 is frankly not enough on a 4:3 format sensor.
                                    I have looked at RAW files from iPhone Pro 13 12MP sensors and the crucifixion of the senses they produce in us is the result of Apple deciding to get rid of ALL sensor noise before sharpening results that are basically not sharp at all (in Photos) and which are otherwise having back that smoothes detail in Lightroom etc, but are excruciatingly noisy.
                                    The pictures speak for themselves: the Nokia 1020 is still a MUCH better camera.
                                    If Apple have now a sensor to match that of the Nokia with much faster processing and their iOS with all its security and apps, I would be interested, but as they posted no user-friendly RAW files from their allegedly 48MP senor for us to examine and work on BEFORE launching the "product", I shall wait until both they, and Samsung, and GSMArena post downloadable RAW files, and post hi-res jpegs (are you there GSM?) to match them before I invest.

                                      Imagine going "all in" on megapickle count.
                                      Samsung is actually pathetic. Guarandamnteed the Pixel 6 with the 50MP Samsung GN1 (or even the 7 series since they will be using the GN1 as well) will be better than this gimmickish junk! All that just to say "we have more megapickles than apple har har har". Pathetic!!!
                                      Samsung does some good things, like being EXTREMELY fast with updates, but this crap? Nah. It's just sad.

                                        • Y
                                        • Yasir
                                        • X}I
                                        • 12 Sep 2022

                                        Dear GSMArena team, please make a comprehensive comparative table of Samsung's 200 MP camera modules.