Vivo, Xiaomi's self-developed chip and Samsung's customized sensor, who promoted the upgrade of mobile phone photography armament?

Just as people are still wondering, "Is 1 100 million pixels' in the wrong direction'?" When the debate was inconclusive, the "200 million pixel" sensor installed on the mobile phone came.

Recently, Samsung Semiconductor officially released the first 200-megapixel sensor ISOCELL HP 1. According to the official documents, ISOCELL HP 1 is based on Samsung's most advanced 0.64μm technology (single pixel size) and adopts the brand-new ChameleonCell pixel synthesis technology. In addition to the "full pixel mode" of 200 million pixels, ISOCELL HP 1 not only supports the output of 50 million pixel images, but also can realize "16+650".

In addition, Samsung also released a 50-megapixel ISOCELL GN5 sensor, with a single pixel size of 1.0μm and dual-pixel Pro technology. Samsung also said that it has been able to provide samples of two kinds of sensors to the supply chain, which means that the mobile phone products equipped with the "200 million pixel" imaging system have entered the countdown to the market.

Since 20 19, the number of mobile phone pixels has also begun to show an order of magnitude leap. Prior to this, the pixel number of mainstream mobile phone sensors was mostly concentrated in12 million-16 million, but in that year, models with 48 million pixels and 64 million pixels began to appear one after another.

20 1 9 1 65438+10. In October, with the release of Xiaomi CC9 Pro, Samsung ISOCELL HMX, the first mobile phone equipped with/kloc-0.0 megapixel image sensor, officially came out, marking the beginning of the era of mobile phone "/kloc-0.0 megapixel".

However, the rapid growth of the number of pixels has also caused the industry to question the high pixel. Glory Bear, certified as "Vice President of Glory Business Department" in Weibo, once said, "Numbers are not equal to experience. It's really good to experience well, but the direction is wrong. The faster you run, the greater the disaster. "

However, this has not stopped more and more product models from choosing "1 100 million pixels" sensor. Subsequently, Xiaomi 10 series, Xiaomi 1 1, Redmi Note9 Pro, MIX FOLD and other product lines also adopted 65438+10 million pixel sensors. Not only that, Samsung, vivo and realme have also joined the camp.

For a higher number of pixels, it is a "double-edged sword" for the imaging system. On the one hand, "all-pixel mode" brings more shooting details, but the huge amount of calculation also challenges the computing power of mobile phone imaging system. On the other hand, the larger sensor size increases the light input, but it also brings more demand for anti-shake power. Therefore, manufacturers usually adopt the output mode of "1 middle pixel 4" by default, which can reduce the amount of calculation and improve the imaging quality.

In addition, the "1 100 million pixels" sensor has also been introduced into mid-market models (such as Samsung HM2), which can create a selling point for some non-flagship models in the imaging system.

According to the news that broke the news, the 200 million pixel sensor will be the first to appear in a domestic model at the end of this year or early next year. Highway. Com predicts that this 200-megapixel model will also output12.5-megapixel images by default, while the other two high-pixel modes need to be turned on manually.

It is worth mentioning that at the Qualcomm Snapdragon Technology Summit at the end of 20 19, Qualcomm introduced that Spectra480 ISP on Snapdragon 865 mobile platform has supported 200 million pixel image sensors, and predicted that 200 million pixel terminals will be listed in 2020. However, due to the global impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the industrial chain, this plan has been repeatedly postponed.

In addition to the escalating arms race in the upstream supply chain, mobile phone manufacturers have also started research on self-developed image chips from the "core".

At first, mobile phone manufacturers developed their own chips, usually to make up for the lack of function of the processor in the image processor at that time. For example, Huawei P9 series released on 20 16, because the ISP of Kirin 955 processor does not support dual camera algorithm, we can only support dual cameras by "plugging in" an ISP of altek Huajing Technology.

In addition, manufacturers will also enhance the processing ability of some image functions through additional chips. For example, in the X9s Plus released on 20 17, vivo is equipped with a DSP chip developed by Ruixinwei * * *, which can stack multiple photos at a processing speed as high as 10 times to synthesize a high-quality photo, greatly improving the image performance under dark conditions.

Last week, Hu Baishan, executive vice president of vivo, revealed in an interview that the X70 series of vivo will be officially released on September 9, and the X70 series will also be the first self-developed video chip V 1.

In addition to Huawei and vivo, Xiaomi released MIX FOLD in March this year, equipped with Xiaomi's self-developed 澎湃 C 1 ISP, which brought better autofocus, automatic white balance and automatic exposure capabilities to mobile phones. In August this year, ZEKU, a new chip company under Eurogroup (parent company of OPPO, Yijia and realme), will also release its own ISP chip. According to OPPO insiders, the chip will be first installed on the Find X4 series mobile phones that will be launched early next year.

This also means that Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo, four domestic first-line mobile phone manufacturers, all have layouts in the field of mobile phone self-developed image chips.

So, why does imaging technology become a hot topic for manufacturers?

In Speedway's view, as the substitution dividend brought by "4G to 5G" began to fade, manufacturers began to seek new innovation dividends. However, with the increasing concentration of industrial chain, the gap in SoC and memory is gradually unable to be opened. Therefore, through "customizing" parts, differentiated competition with other brands has become a widely recognized model for major brands.

Among them, in addition to the continuous upgrading of hardware, the mobile phone imaging system is also upgrading with artificial intelligence technology, and the era of "computational photography" is coming. The later software adjustment ability and style, including the chips and other hardware developed by ourselves to realize these additional functions, are all important means to bring more space for manufacturers to play independently and create differentiation.

At the level that consumers can perceive, mobile phone photography is one of the most exemplary projects in the press conference and offline experience. On the one hand, users' usage habits of apps are quite different, and the "camera app" is one of the few functions that almost everyone can use, which makes it easier to form a contrast. On the other hand, whether it is the color performance, detail preservation, zoom ability and image anti-shake of imaging, it can be compared through live demonstration.

Therefore, the image system of mobile phone has also become an important means to distinguish between high school and low school, which brings a functional premium. Usually in flagship series. Upgrading a main camera or adding a periscope telephoto lens will bring hundreds or even thousands of dollars in price increases.

With the slowdown of the global smartphone market, some mature markets have entered the stage of pursuing consumption upgrading in the stock market from the popularity of incremental markets. With the continuous upgrading of consumers' pursuit of mobile phone image function, the "arms race" between mobile phone manufacturers will become more intense.