Samsung Turns ISOCELL Tech Into Its Own Image Sensor Brand

In 2013, Samsung introduced its ISOCELL technology for smartphone cameras. This week at MWC Shanghai, the company announced a complete image sensor brand with the same name.

If you haven’t been paying attention to this specific ISOCELL tech, it’s pretty straightforward. Basically, ISOCELL separates each pixel with a physical barrier that reduces color crosstalk among the pixels. This leads to high color fidelity, allowing for better image quality even with smaller pixels. While this is Samsung’s technology, not every Galaxy phone uses it, since many are running Sony-made sensors.

Anyway, now ISOCELL is its own brand, meaning you will likely see a lot more marketing for it in upcoming devices. According to Samsung, with ISOCELL, there are four sub-brands with each catered to meet specific needs in the market. They are as follows.

• ISOCELL Bright sensors deliver bright and sharp images with high color fidelity and reduced noise in low light environments
• ISOCELL Fast sensors provide fast autofocus onto still or moving objects even when dark
• ISOCELL Slim sensors adopt the smallest pixel sizes available in the market at 0.9-1.0um, yet produce high quality images for the slimmest devices
• ISOCELL Dual sensors can be mixed and matched in various combinations on consumer devices to bring about features demanded in the latest dual camera trend

Samsung didn’t specify when we’ll see these sub-brands in action or if they have partners looking to use ISOCELL, but that info will likely come later (Prediction: Galaxy Note 8 featuring ISOCELL Dual). Until then, let’s reflect on how far mobile camera sensors have come in the last few years. A very long way.

// Samsung