Samsung Loosens Sony's Grip on Cutting-Edge China Phone Cameras

Samsung scored a victory over Sony after a major Chinese customer declared it was going with the Korean company’s camera sensors in future smartphones, according to Bloomberg.

On Wednesday, Xiaomi said it will turn to Samsung for a future line of its mainstream Redmi smartphones with an impressive 64-megapixel camera. That’s part of a strategic alliance under which the two companies will collaborate on developing next-generation camera technology, Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin told reporters in Beijing.

Until now, the smartphone brand had relied mainly on global leader Sony for the sensors that power its digital cameras, though it does also buy some from Samsung as well. While it’s unclear how much business Xiaomi’s decision would translate into, the move is an encouraging sign of competition for a mobile imaging sensor market that Sony has dominated in recent years.

The new tie-up adds an intriguing competitor for budget devices. Xiaomi and its partner are working on technology capable of capturing images as large as 108 megapixels, Lin told a news briefing. This is typically done by using software to stitch together multiple exposures, and there’s as yet no mobile camera sensor with such an extreme resolution. The technology will be deployed across Xiaomi phones “soon enough,“ Lin added.