According to Nikkei News, Sony will provide a new generation of image sensors for Apple’s iPhone 15 series. Sony Semiconductor Solutions has successfully developed a new image sensor and started shipping it to Apple and other smartphone makers after mass-producing it at its Nagasaki factory.
Equipping Sony’s sensors in the iPhone 15 series models is crucial for Sony, which can strengthen Sony’s competitive advantage in high-definition photography technology. Samsung Electronics has launched a variety of camera sensors, shaking Sony’s position in image sensors.
Compared with traditional sensors, Sony’s new sensor can double the saturation signal level of each pixel. That said, the sensor captures more light and reduces overexposure or underexposure in certain scenes. Even if the subject is in a strong backlight environment, the human face can be clearly captured.
Sony achieved this breakthrough using a new semiconductor architecture that places photodiodes and transistors in separate substrate layers, allowing the sensor to add more photodiodes to dedicated layers.
Sony controlled a 44 percent global share of CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) image sensors last year, with Samsung in second place with 18.5 percent, according to U.K.-based analytics firm Omdia. But Sony’s share has been declining in recent years.
