In short: Samsung is ready to start mass-producing its first quadruple-camera smartphone, having just finalized the list of imaging sensor suppliers for its seminal device, according to new reports from the firm’s home country. The handset that’s expected to launch next month as part of the omnipresent Galaxy brand will use cameras manufactured by Samsung Electronics’ sister company Samsung Electro-Mechanics, as well as modules made by MCNEX, another Korean imaging specialist, insiders claim. The inner workings of the quadruple-camera setup will also be unprecedented in the mobile industry as Samsung is understood to have come up with an innovative setup that has all four cameras working at once.
Background: The solution is expected to be similar to the system used by the newly announced Galaxy A7 line — Samsung’s first triple-camera device — but with the addition of an extra sensor. In practice, all four cameras will work simultaneously, though certain shots may use fewer of them. That’s a fundamentally different approach to how other manufacturers are presently working on dual-camera setups wherein system with more than two lenses never actually use all of them simultaneously. Samsung is holding a new product event on October 11 when its quadruple-camera handset is widely expected to be unveiled. The fact that the launch is happening in Malaysia suggests the device won’t be available globally. Instead, Samsung is only likely to bring it to developing markets where rivals such as Xiaomi and OPPO have been eating away its market share with aggressive pricing over the last several years.
Impact: Samsung appears to be coming good on its promise of making its mid-rangers more feature-packed and competitive and the days of its flagship features trickling down to non-premium devices over several years appear to be over. While the Galaxy S and Note lines are still going to sport the very best tech Samsung has to offer, the firm is now blurring the lines between its mobile product categories, as also implied by a recent report suggesting the conglomerate is planning to discontinue its entry-level Galaxy J line next year.