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The Redmi Note 7 uses a 48MP Sony sensor. Now Xiaomi is switching to Korean competitor Samsung for future 64MP camera sensors. (Picture: Handout)

Xiaomi shuns Sony for Samsung camera sensors

Xiaomi plans to use Samsung's sensors for a 64-megapixel camera in new Redmi phones

Smartphones
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Samsung Electronics Co. scored a victory over Sony Corp. after a major Chinese customer declared it was going with the Korean company’s camera sensors in future smartphones.

On Wednesday, Xiaomi Corp. said it will turn to Samsung for a future line of its mainstream Redmi smartphones with an impressive 64-megapixel camera. That’s part of a strategic alliance under which the two companies will collaborate on developing next-generation camera technology, Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin told reporters in Beijing.

The Redmi Note 7 uses a 48MP Sony sensor. Now Xiaomi is switching to Korean competitor Samsung for future 64MP camera sensors. (Picture: Handout)

Until now, the smartphone brand had relied mainly on global leader Sony for the sensors that power its digital cameras, though it does also buy some from Samsung as well. While it’s unclear how much business Xiaomi’s decision would translate into, the move is an encouraging sign of competition for a mobile imaging sensor market that Sony has dominated in recent years. And it’s a way for Samsung -- whose smartphone sales have all but evaporated in China -- to tap the world’s biggest mobile arena by selling components instead of devices.

The new tie-up adds an intriguing competitor for budget devices. Xiaomi and its partner are working on technology capable of capturing images as large as 108 megapixels, Lin told a news briefing. This is typically done by using software to stitch together multiple exposures, and there’s as yet no mobile camera sensor with such an extreme resolution. The technology will be deployed across Xiaomi phones “soon enough,” Lin added.

Current top-tier Xiaomi devices, such as the Mix 3 and Mi 9, are equipped with multiple cameras with up to 48 megapixels of resolution, serviced primarily by Sony technology.

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