The Samsung Galaxy S7 is presumably a good few months away, but Samsung has just unveiled the new camera technology that should ship with it.
Samsung recently held an investor conference in its native South Korea, and one of the points discussed was its new Britecell camera technology.
Britecell packs more, smaller pixels into a smaller image sensor than before. Despite this decreased size, it apparently manages to deliver images that are sharper and brighter – especially in low-light conditions.
The key way in which the new Britecell camera achieves this, as reported by 9to5Google, is by omitting the traditional Bayer filter. This typically serves to turn pixels green, but in the process blocks some of the available light from hitting the image sensor.
Samsung has scrapped this green pixel provision entirely, and instead goes with white pixels.
By allowing more light in, Samsung has been able to decrease the pixel size from 1.12µm to 1µm, and to increase the pixel count. Expect the Samsung Galaxy S7 to feature a 20-megapixel camera rather than the 16-megapixel unit of the Samsung Galaxy S6.
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Another benefit of the Britecell design is that its camera modules will be 17 percent thinner than before. Who knows – we could even see the end of the camera bulge.
Samsung appears to have worked on improving its software, too, which is as important as the hardware in smartphone cameras. It’s got an improved HDR mode, which it is calling Smart WDR, as well as an improved PDAF (phase detection auto focus) mode that can quickly hone in on moving and distant objects.
Naturally, Samsung didn’t utter the words ‘Galaxy S7’ at this event, but it’s pretty lilely that this technology will be making its way to the company’s next flagship phone in 2016.
Next, take a look at how the Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S6 Edge+ compare:
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
