Samsung launches "smallest" image sensor for full-screen phones

Samsung's ISOCELL Slim 3T2 is 1/3.4 inches in size and can fit into full-screen smartphones.

Samsung has launched a new image sensor for smartphones that it touts as being the smallest in the industry to accommodate full-screen designs.

The 0.8-micrometre pixel ISOCELL Slim 3T2 is 1/3.4 inches -- around 5.1 millimeters -- diagonally in size which is the "smallest" to date, the South Korean tech giant said.

It will deliver 20-megapixel resolution for both front and back cameras and is aimed at mid-range smartphones.

The sensor fits into tiny modules and supports smartphones designs such as hole-in display and notch design.

Mass production will begin within the first quarter, Samsung said.

More and more mid-range phones are adopting high-specs and the latest designs as the smartphone market's growth stagnate.

Chinese vendors, including Huawei, have especially been aggressive in packing high-specs into their mid-range offerings in recent years due to fierce local competition and exporting them as well.

Samsung in September said that its mid-range offerings will get cutting-edge features. Samsung mobile CEO DJ Koh at the time said the company will "bring technology and differentiation starting from the mid-end".

The company's System LSI business, which designs logic chips such as image sensors, has also been diversifying its portfolio to capitalize on new demand from 5G and AI.

The business launched processors and image sensors for automobile applications.



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