Samsung has managed to release four really premium flagships this year. The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices are the company’s flagship smartphones, while the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus occupate the flagship phablet space. All of these phones are made out of metal, and sports really high-end specifications, as you’d expect from such a phone. That being said, the Galaxy S7 handset is expected to arrive in February or March next year, and we’ve already seen quite a few leaks and rumors regarding this phone.
It was rumored recently that the Galaxy S7 might sport the brand new 20-megapixel ISOCELL camera on the inside, which would be an upgrade to the 16-megapixel snapper that can be found in all of Samsung’s flagships this year. Well, it seems like Samsung might be changing their mind considering the company has reportedly been impressed with Sony’s IMX300 sensors which is built into the Xperia Z5, Z5 Premium and Z5 Mini handsets. The company is allegedly so impressed with these sensors that they’re trying to purchase a ton of them from Sony and use them in their upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship.
Now, it is not clear at this point if Samsung intends to use both the IMX300 and their very own ISOCELL sensor in the Galaxy S7, but it is certainly a possibility, Samsung has done it before. The Sony IMX300 sensor which is available in all of Sony’s flagships has impressed quite a few people and Sony’s devices using this sensor are actually ranked 1st in DxOMark’s best smartphone cameras list.
Now, one would assume that Sony would be willing to share their sensors for a price, but the company intended to keep these sensors exclusive to the Xperia Z5 line, which complicates things for Samsung. The Korea-based tech giant is allegedly in hard negotiations with Sony in order to get ahold of those sensors, and considering how many Galaxy S7’s Samsung is expected to sell, they’ll need quite a few of IMX300 units, even if they combine those sensors with their ISOCELL ones. The IMX300 is actually a 25-megapixel sensor, but it gets scaled down to 23-megapixels (16:9) and 21-megapixels (4:3). The Samsung’s ISOCELL unit is a 20-megapixel unit, so it will be interesting to see how will Samsung market both of these sensors, if they opt to use them both, of course.