Colors tend to vary widely from camera to camera, but a new spectral sensor could help smartphones achieve more accurate colors. During MWC 2025 in Barcelona, Tecno unveiled a new multispectral imaging sensor that captures an impressive nine color channels, dubbed the Tecno SpectraVision Camera.
Accurate color rendition has long been a challenge for cameras, including smartphone cameras. Human eyes are able to compensate for different light sources and, while cameras can adjust the white balance, color accuracy remains a constant challenge for camera manufacturers.
Where most cameras use four color channels, the SpectraVision Camera uses a multispectral sensor to capture nine color channels. The device then uses that data with an algorithm to enhance color accuracy in real time. The China-based company says that the SpectraVision enhances color accuracy “significantly,” including working in challenging lighting conditions.
The SpectraVision camera itself is just 2MP, but Tecno will use the hardware to work within a system called the Tecno Image Maxtric, a process that marries hardware with AI software to process images. The 2MP camera would likely be just part of a multi-camera array and used to guide the software in enhancing color.
Because the spectral camera both considers “clusters” and the full environment, the company says the system is able to adjust colors across different sections. Tecno shared a before-and-after sample of stage lighting where the lights remain vivid but the performer’s skin tones do not take on the coloration of the lighting.
The company also said that the sensor works with its existing Universal Tone algorithms, an AI program that uses an inclusive database of skin tone ranges to help improve skin tone rendering in images. The company says that using the multi-spectral camera with the software helps create more natural skin tones.
Tecno isn’t alone in crafting new hardware for better colors on smartphone cameras. Start-up Spectricity also makes spectral sensors for mobile devices, for example. Color sensors have also been previously used in both cameras and displays to aid in color accuracy.
As just a component to be used in later smartphones, it is unclear when the spectral camera technology could make its way into the first smartphones. The technology is part of the company’s demonstrations during the MWC event in Barcelona, Spain from March 03 through March 06.
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