Samsung is using their own camera sensor this time around, in the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+. Now you may remember that with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge earlier in the year, they were using both their own ISOCELL and Sony IMX240 camera sensors in those devices. This was to keep them from having supply issues. Samsung does this quite often actually, with components in their devices. The reason being is that they make most of the components, but also sell to other manufacturers. So they sometimes run into not having enough supply to keep up with demand.
It appears this time around, Samsung is not using Sony’s sensors in their new phablets smartphones launched last week. Instead they are both using their ISOCELL sensors, and they are quite good, to be honest. I’ve had both in my hand now for about a week, and have been very impressed with the camera. Both in how well it works as well as how well the pictures come out. You’ll be able to see that in the full review coming out real soon.
In recent years, Samsung has really taken a huge leap forward when it comes to mobile cameras. They’ve been the undisputed king in terms of Android, for cameras. While the iPhone still takes amazing pictures, even with it’s 8MP camera. This is all due to the sensor they use as well as the image processing. For those unaware, the image processing is perhaps the single-most important part of a camera on a smartphone. Samsung also has some really cool features in the camera, including Selective Focus, and Live Broadcast. But there’s also a Pro Mode which allows you to change all different aspects of the camera like the white balance, ISO and much more. Making the camera very intuitive for pro users.
While Sony makes great camera sensors, it’s still nice to see that Samsung’s ISOCELL sensors are just as good, and perhaps Samsung might be looking to wein their dependence off of Sony for their camera sensors as well. Similar to what’s happened with them and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors.