Samsung (System LSI) and Sony are the world's biggest mobile camera sensor brands. The South Korean firm started the megapixels race by launching 48MP and 64MP sensors in 2018 and a 108MP sensor in 2019. It is reported a few months ago that Samsung has plans to launch 200MP and even 600MP ISOCELL camera sensors in the future, and one of those sensors could be used by Xiaomi.
According to the Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station, Xiaomi is working on a high-end smartphone with a 200MP sensor. Xiaomi was the first to release a smartphone with a 108MP camera sensor, and it could do the same with Samsung's upcoming 192MP/200MP ISOCELL camera sensor. Apparently, the sensor will feature 16-in-1 pixel binning to convert 192MP/200MP images into 12MP/12.5MP images.
This sensor could also offer lossless zoom from 1x to 4x by cropping and multi-frame rendering. Needless to say, we can expect the sensor to feature 4K 120fps and 8K video recording abilities. Like the 48MP, 50MP, 64MP, and 108MP ISOCELL sensors from Samsung, the 200MP sensor could feature phase-detection autofocus, advanced HDR capabilities, and zero shutter lag.
Xiaomi's upcoming flagship smartphone is said to feature Qualcomm's flagship processor for 2021 (Snapdragon 895), which is built using a 4nm fabrication process. The chipset could feature Kryo 780 CPU cores (based on ARM's new v9 architecture), Adreno 730 GPU, Spectra 680 ISP, and an integrated Snapdragon X65 5G modem. The device is also said to come with an extremely curved screen and a punch-hole camera.
The Xiaomi smartphone with Samsung's 200MP ISOCELL camera sensor could be unveiled sometime in the first half of 2022. However, it may not be released globally, similar to the Mi MIX Alpha.
