iPhone 6 Said to Feature Sony's 13-Megapixel Exmor IMX220 Camera Sensor

cwwilson said:

So in other words, worse than the S5 camera. Less MP, no 4K recording....they may as well just stay with the tried and true 8MP they've been using for centuries then.

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Ugh...

The sensor in the Samsung S5 is 1/2.6" which is smaller than the Exmor IMX220 (1/2.3") so you will get better quality pictures from the new iPhone camera if this is the actual sensor that they are using. See my attachment.

Plan to do a lot of big shot projects in 4K that hardly any device including most peoples existing TV can take full advantage of? Another feature to yet again say they did it before Apple.

dumastudetto said:

More is never better.

People keep asking for more battery capacity. Nope, nobody wants a thicker phone, they want Apple to continue driving the hardware and software experience to deliver the incredible battery performance you only get in an iPhone.

More RAM? Not needed. Again Apple's control of the hardware and software experience means they can maximise performance, efficiency and experience like no other company in the entire world.

More megapixels? Haha. I think competing platforms prove the higher pixel count makes no difference they still can't go against the iPhone and win in terms of raw image quality.

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I would sacrifice thickness for three things

1. Biggest possible sensor and distance the lens is away from it.
2. Bigger battery - more battery life.
3. More internal storage

Battery and Zoom

I think the only thing I want to convince me to upgrade from my "free" iPhone 5 that I just got (my 4s died last month and ATT gave me a 5 as a replacement - and best of all I'm out of contract now ) would be if they somehow improved the Zoom function on the phone and for the love of god did something about the battery life. The minute I start using my camera the battery dies in under 90 minutes.

Which means it's hard to use my iPhone at concerts or if I'm out all day and I want to take a bunch of pictures. Other than that, since I did get the upgrade to the 5, I'm not getting locked into another contract or paying more money unless the thing just really blows me away. As it is, the 5 feels and looks exactly like my 4s which is why I never bothered to upgrade to the 5 series.

MacRumors said:

Past rumors have suggested that the iPhone 6 will retain the same 8-megapixel sensor found in the iPhone 5s, with Apple instead choosing to offer improved image stabilization for more clear photos. A report last month also noted that an optical image stabilization system will be exclusively featured in the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6, while the smaller 4.7-inch version utilizes an improved lens module.

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But we have seen almost no part leaks that show the supposed 5.5" model, let alone something that shows it having better specs than the 4.7", correct?

pedromcm.pm said:

8 Megapixels is plenty. They should focus exclusively in sensor size, auto focus and low light performance.

Leave the "MOAR MEGAPIXELS" to the ignorant crowd, that usually buys the galaxy S5 anyway because even if they use 13, it is smaller than 16, so the Galaxy S5 camera will still be 0,25x better. lol

Seriously, we must let tech evolve more and more, but for now there are more important things on cameras that are way behind. The 8 MP camera in the 5s blows almost every single camera (besides the Lumia 1020, in most conditions) out of the water. Be it Samsung, or Sony (witch is particularly hilarious, since sony makes the hardware of the camera. They must really suck at software processing).

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Because they have by far the best cameras, but the software used sucks (as usual), so pictures are worse than they should be.

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In what world do you live in where Sony makes "by far the best cameras"?

I completely agree that MP's aren't everything, and 8MP is just fine. But purely from a marketing standpoint the iPhone 6 really needs to leave 8MP behind!

metfuel said:

I would sacrifice thickness for three things

1. Biggest possible sensor and distance the lens is away from it.
2. Bigger battery - more battery life.

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This.

but I don't think Apple's marketing will listen to us

Hahaha, the good ol' knee jerk reaction post at MR:

Rumored increase in megapixels = “it’s not about the megapixels”

Yeah, we know.

metfuel said:

The sensor in the Samsung S5 is 1/2.6" which is smaller than the Exmor IMX220 (1/2.3") so you will get better quality pictures from the new iPhone camera if this is the actual sensor that they are using. See my attachment.

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Nice, good informative post.

It's really encouraging to see people here understanding that sensor size and pixel sensitivity and all that is more important than the pixel count. I know this is a unique group (not representative of the general audience) but still nice.

And although I'm a die hard Canon fan - I will admit that Sony is making some absolutely excellent small cameras - the rx100 series for example - widely accepted to be tops in it's class.

cwwilson said:

So in other words, worse than the S5 camera. Less MP, no 4K recording....they may as well just stay with the tried and true 8MP they've been using for centuries then.

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Centuries? You use this word oddly, I think you need to look it up in a dictionary.

This is awesome news. However, I'll be thoroughly disappointed if the 4.7" doesn't feature OIS

about time they upgrade the MP. More mégapixels allows for some digital zooms to be made, which is important on a phone since there is no optical zoom.

I fully expect the 5.5 inch to have the better camera

And I will wait for they version

Very sketchy rumour.

If these rumors and the battery, etc. are true, this is shaping up to be one killer device!

Downside is the wait will be forever.

Maybe get one in march 2015

I have a Nikon P100 camera. I paid $300 for it and it is a prosumer which means it's between a professional and consumer camera.

If the iPhone 6 has this sensor, then it has the same sensor size as my bulky, heavy camera and more megapixels too.

Then again I have 26X zoom on my camera.

Still amazing.

The Exmor IMX220 features a 13-megapixel, 1/2.3'' sensor and can record videos in 1080p. The sensor would also be a sizable improvement over the camera currently in the iPhone 5s, which uses an 8-megapixel, 1/3.2'' sensor.

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I can't see the improvement there. 13/(1/2.3) is greater than 8/(1/3.2), which means that we would have smaller sensor space per pixel, meaning less performance in low light situations and more noise, so it would be a step backwards from the iPhone 5s' sensor.
Ok 1080p video is an advantage, but a 8mpixel sensor could easily provide 1080p video.

SchneiderMan said:

I bet Sony makes more money selling sensors to Apple than selling its own smartphones.

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Erm no. The sheer fact a camera module is a few pounds would reflect that.

Anyway does this module rumoured have optical image stabilisation in it?

Love how everyone thinks they're flanking conventional wisdom with their "moer meggapixals deosn't mean bettar photos!!!1one" comments.

Digital camera makers and yes, Apple are quite aware that consumers are educated about what makes better images (sensor, exposure, focus, etc.). I guarantee that if Apple releases a 13mp camera, they will have found a way to achieve as well or better exposed images, with the added benefit of scalability and zoom/crop-ability. As someone who crops at least 50% of the photos I take, more megapixels will be a welcome addition.

It's amusing that people here think Apple suddenly just lost their common sense and are just playing a numbers game. No. They want their iphone camera to display the most impressive, stunning photos. All this rumor means, if true, is that they've discovered a way which 13mp has enhanced the overall photo quality.

TallManNY said:

Because Sony is probably going to sell a million of their phone and 200 million of the camera sensors in the iPhone. They will make a small profit on the camera. But they might lose money on the smartphone after development costs.

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You're kidding right? Sony won't be selling phones at a loss. If this was the 'old' Sony then nothing would surprise me, but not the new Sony...

iOSaddict said:

In other words, it will not be chasing megapixel counts but will be the most optimised 13MP camera.

Honestly, it's 2014 and there are people who still think more is better

And I'm sure that 4k recording is a must have and is used by everyone who has a samsung plasticky s5.

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Your argument fails, because if Apple we're not chasing pixels then they would have stuck with 8 and not increased to 13. And 4K recording is in a few camcorders and cameras and is appearing in other make smartphones too, so Apple ARE behind the market with that.
I would expect next years CES to feature a lot more devices with 4K recording.

dumastudetto said:

More is never better.

People keep asking for more battery capacity. Nope, nobody wants a thicker phone, they want Apple to continue driving the hardware and software experience to deliver the incredible battery performance you only get in an iPhone.

More RAM? Not needed. Again Apple's control of the hardware and software experience means they can maximise performance, efficiency and experience like no other company in the entire world.

More megapixels? Haha. I think competing platforms prove the higher pixel count makes no difference they still can't go against the iPhone and win in terms of raw image quality.

Click to expand...

I'm going to have to disagree on both battery and RAM. I do think Apple does squeeze out the best battery life to battery size ratio, but having a phone that could last for a couple of days on battery would be a huge game changer. I don't think we will see that any time soon, but Google has done a lot of software improvements for battery life in Android L (Art replacing dalvik, new system wide battery saver mode.)

And with RAM iOS runs fine, but that is because developers build within the constraints of the platform. If there was more RAM, developers could do more. This doesn't matter as much for iPhone, but on iPad we could be getting desktop class software to turn it into a more effective computing platform, rather than just running lightweight versions of iPhoto and Pages. We have been sitting at 1GB of RAM in iOS since 2012, apps have only become more complex so that means less RAM available for quick multitasking (Apps have to relaunch from scratch a majority of the time.)

I'm not saying we need gobs of RAM, but 2GB of RAM can't wait another year or it will end up holding iOS back as a platform.

the8thark said:

I hope everyone realises this and does not fall into the trap that 13MP is always better than 8MP. There's a lot more to it than that.

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Well, to be fair, it's a balance. A 13 MP camera with a relatively small sensor is likely going to capture more detail than a 1 MP camera with a large one. In well-lit conditions, 13 MP *IS* better than 8, even at the same sensor size... all other things being equal, anyway. They should increase the size, though, to account for the increase. And I agree, my iPhone 5's low light capabilities haven't impressed me.

ElZeus said:

13MP sensor and a 1810 mAh battery? Can't wait!

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Erm... you do realize most of this extra battery is going to be going to powering the larger screen, faster processor (is it even a die shrink?) and other features of the phone...

Ok 1080p video is an advantage, but a 8mpixel sensor could easily provide 1080p video

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? My iPhone 5 does 1080p... I think the 4S might have even done it too?

How about APS-C? Maybe even FF?

malexandria said:

...As it is, the 5 feels and looks exactly like my 4s which is why I never bothered to upgrade to the 5 series.

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Umm, no it doesn't.