Redmi releases photo from world’s first 64MP camera phone
– and the level of detail looks absolutely ridiculous
(Image credit: Redmi)
It looks like the first device to use Samsung’s new Isocell Bright GW1 sensor won’t actually be made by Samsung, with Redmi beating the tech giant to the punch.
The company already makes phones with an impressive 48MP resolution, however the new Redmi flagship phone is going to seriously step its game up. While the phone has been teased before, in order to whet users’ appetites, the company released a teaser image on the Chinese social network Weibo, shot with the phone’s camera.
The image is included below – take a look for yourself at the detail on the cat’s hair, and note as well the lack of grain. As mentioned, this is all thanks to the Samsung Isocell Bright GW1 64-megapixel f1/1.72 sensor, which is designed to compete with Sony’s industry-dominating IMX586 48-megapixel sensor.
(Image credit: Redmi)
The new sensor doesn’t just cram more pixels onto the same surface area either – it ups the sensor size in order to keep the pixels at the same size, ensuring that the camera doesn’t suffer from excess image noise.
According to the tease post, the phone will produce images at sizes of 9,215 x 6,812 pixels, and in low light it can join four pixels into one to increase light sensitivity – though this does lower the resolution to 16MP.
Rumours also indicate that the phone will also be capable of real-time HDR of up to 100dB (compared to the 60dB range of conventional image sensors), and will be sporting a Super PD "high-performance phase detection auto-focus technology" for faster and sharper results.
There’s no firm release date yet, and not a word on price, however we have had prior assurance that the phone is due in the second half of 2019, so it shouldn’t be too long now. Will Redmi beat Samsung to the punch on its own sensor? This teaser indicates that we may find out the answer to that question sooner rather than later.
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Jon spent years at IPC Media writing features, news, reviews and other photography content for publications such as Amateur Photographer and What Digital Camera in both print and digital form. With his additional experience for outlets like Photomonitor, this makes Jon one of our go-to specialists when it comes to all aspects of photography, from cameras and action cameras to lenses and memory cards, flash diffusers and triggers, batteries and memory cards, selfie sticks and gimbals, and much more besides.
An NCTJ-qualified journalist, he has also contributed to Shortlist, The Skinny, ThreeWeeks Edinburgh, The Guardian, Trusted Reviews, CreativeBLOQ, and probably quite a few others I’ve forgotten.
