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2011 iPhone to Sport 8-Megapixel Camera Sensor From Sony?

Tuesday April 13, 2010 9:06 am PDT by Eric Slivka

TheStreet's Scott Moritz reports on a research note from analyst Ashok Kumar claiming that Apple has signed on with Sony for an 8-megapixel camera sensor for the 2011 iPhone.

Hello Sony (SNE), goodbye OmniVision (OVTI). Apple has picked Sony's 8-megapixel camera chip for the 2011 iPhone, according to supply and manufacturing sources, said Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar.

If true, it's good news for iPhone fans looking for more photo shooting power on their phones. But the move would displace OmniVision, Apple's current camera supplier to the iPhone.

OmniVision has been reported to have received from Apple orders for 5-megapixel camera sensors for the next-generation iPhone expected to be introduced later this year. The iPhone 3GS currently sports a 3.2-megapixel sensor.

Moritz has had a spotty track record in his own predictions over the years, and has recently focused his efforts in large part on republishing information from research notes by Kumar, who carries a mixed record himself. In addition, the inherent uncertainties in information regarding a product two generations in the future has led us to post this item on Page 2.
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Anthony T
28 months ago
They should just include it in this year's iPhone.
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anonymouz1828
28 months ago
By the time they release in 2011 .. other phones will be 12-megapixel.
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iDisk
28 months ago
Or how about this scenario:

5mp camera from Omni for;

* iPod Nano
* iPod Touch
* iPad

8mp camera from Sony for;

* iPhone


Just a thought, based on past rumors.
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NikeTalk
28 months ago
We barely know what's on the iPhone coming out in 2010 so i'm not even gonna speculate about 2011.
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Battlefield Fan
28 months ago
does this mean a carl zeiss lens? :)

honestly though to fit that powerful of a sensor and lens one would think we might be seeing an iPhone casing redesign.....
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fabian9
28 months ago
What's the point? Seriously. It's not like anybody would try to to take a photo and print it on A0 using an iPhone. All this does it create very large files and eat up the still quite restricted memory space available on the iPhone.

As a side note, I don't even want to think about the low-light performance of these tiny sensors as digital noise is very strongly correlated to sensor pixel density.

I can sort of understand 5 Megapixels - but that's more than enough for 99% of all users.

Fabian
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NightFox
28 months ago
I really hope this isn't going to be to the detriment of anything else. There's only one reason to put an 8MP camera in a phone, and that's so you can say "8MP Camera" on the spec. Even many compact cameras can't make decent use of anything more than 6MP.

Next we'll get speakers that go all the way up to 11...
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macduke
28 months ago

We barely know what's on the iPhone coming out in 2010 so i'm not even gonna speculate about 2011.


2010: 3.5g, 64gb, front facing camera, Apple A4, 5mp camera w/flash, 720p video, 960x640 display, 20% better battery life, case redesign

2011: 4g, 128gb, RFID, Apple A5, 8mp camera w/zoom, 1080p video, IPS display, 30% better battery life

Didn't you get the memo?

I think, for once, I might actually pass on this year's iPhone. iPad keeps me plenty busy! I think from here on out I'll alternate years buying iPhones and iPads. They are both killer devices.
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yetanotherdave
28 months ago

What's the point? Seriously. It's not like anybody would try to to take a photo and print it on A0 using an iPhone. All this does it create very large files and eat up the still quite restricted memory space available on the iPhone.

As a side note, I don't even want to think about the low-light performance of these tiny sensors as digital noise is very strongly correlated to sensor pixel density.

I can sort of understand 5 Megapixels - but that's more than enough for 99% of all users.

Fabian


Because most people don't understand MP's and think that more = better. The fact that I can get far better shots out of my 5mp D40 than my 10mp point and shoot compact is obviously an anomaly...
I suppose it's good for digital zooming... if you're into horrible practises like digital zooming.
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roland.g
28 months ago

2010: 3.5g, 64gb, front facing camera, Apple A4, 5mp camera w/flash, 720p video, 960x640 display, 20% better battery life, case redesign

2011: 4g, 128gb, RFID, Apple A5, 8mp camera w/zoom, 1080p video, IPS display, 30% better battery life

Didn't you get the memo?

I think, for once, I might actually pass on this year's iPhone. iPad keeps me plenty busy! I think from here on out I'll alternate years buying iPhones and iPads. They are both killer devices.


4G in 2011, on what network. 4G is not going to be reality for a while, not to mention the speed boost from 3G to 4G is not nearly as significant as from 2G EDGE to 3G was. But whatever gets people excited.
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