Recently, OPPO sent an invitation letter to OPPO R9s, which contained an IMX398 sensor. Later, various community forums began to talk about it. Many KOL and industry professionals have begun to recall Sony's IMX series sensors in recent years. However, for small white users, it may just be another professional term that adds annoyance and dyslexia. As for IMX398, have you understood Sony's IMX series sensors over the years?

For ordinary consumers who do not often pay attention to the mobile phone industry, they are often confused by the sensor models like IMX214, IMX135 and IMX298. It is only known that Sony has used more than 20 million pixel level sensors for a long time, but it is not known which one is the driving car of Sony mobile phones. I know that Meilan Max, Meilan E, Xiaomi 4S and Xiaomi 4c all use the same sensor, but I don't know that it is actually IMX258. What? The Meizu MX6 launched IMX386, the Xiaomi 5s launched IMX378, and the Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe launched IMX318 a while ago... Consumers are more and more confused. OK, let's review these sensors to see what differences and new features they have.

As the saying goes, "no picture, no truth". Before the debut of IMX398, let's use a chart to summarize the popular image sensors of the Legalists in recent years. As shown in the figure above, we artificially divide the IMX series sensors into four levels, and Sony can currently reach the highest level of 23 million pixels in the field of mobile phone image sensors. Although the pixel value of Nokia's 41 million pixel sensor and OV23850 (24 million pixels) is slightly lower than that of Nokia's 41 million pixel sensor, the overall image quality is still higher than that of OV, Samsung, Toshiba and other sensor manufacturers.

On the other hand, today's 8 million pixel sensors are basically used on the front camera, unlike the so-called overlord camera several years ago. Of course, LG G5 and LG V20 are exceptions. They still leave a position for the 8 million pixel sensor at the main camera position.

In recent years, Sony has focused on the development of sensors between 12 million pixels and 21 million pixels. As shown in the figure above, we can see many classic models, such as the mainstream model IMX214 in 2014, the IMX298, which has appeared in many flagship phones this year, and the IMX258, which was once installed on many thousand yuan mobile phones. Next, let's take a look at these IMX series sensors at the simplest level of 8 million pixels and more than 20 million pixels.

In 2013, with the debut of IMX135 (13 million pixels), the 8 million pixel level sensor was also upgraded, and IMX134 officially replaced IMX145. Unlike IMX135, which adopts stack structure, IMX134 is still in the stage of back reflection structure, so it is not much progress compared with IMX145. If you have to pick out the difference, the aperture value of the phone lens equipped with IMX134 model is larger than that of the phone lens equipped with IMX145 model. In fact, this has little to do with the sensor. Although the aperture value of the official template of the sensor module sold by Sony is not very large, mobile phone manufacturers can still customize their own to increase the aperture value. IMX145 is represented by Samsung S3 and iPhone 4S (customized version), and IMX134 is represented by Sony Xperia L, Huawei P6 and ZTE Star 1. It is worth mentioning that the IMX134 on Sony Xperia L supports hardware HDR, so when recording video at night, you can feel that the dynamic range of the picture is wider, and the details of bright and dark parts are restored more richly.

At the end of 2013, along with the birth of Meizu MX3, IMX179 also officially launched. Meizu was the third generation flagship at that time, which used 8 million pixel sensors. Later OPPO R1 also used this sensor. According to Meizu and OPPO, IMX179 can bring better night shooting performance. According to the official data of Sony, IMX179 has increased the size of the sensor, indirectly increasing the size of the unit pixel, which has improved the sensitivity of the sensor to a certain extent. It is really feasible in theory to cooperate with a larger lens aperture. It is worth mentioning that IMX179 cancels the hardware HDR function compared with IMX134.

Image source AnandTech

Nowadays, many mobile phone manufacturers have popularized 8 million pixels of front camera, and Sony and OV have most sensors. It is estimated that the flagship machine has not dared to talk about a 4 million pixel UltraPixel like the New HTC One. Of course, there are still some special cases. For example, LG G5 and LG V20 adopt the dual main camera design, one of which is 8 million pixels. The former uses IMX268, while the latter is IMX219. The former cannot find detailed information on Sony's official website for the time being. The latter seems to be similar to IMX134 in terms of specifications. The biggest improvement is mainly the increase of the frame rate of video recording.

Although there are not many models of sensors above 20 million pixels, with Sony opening up to friends to purchase, we can see more flagship models of manufacturers equipped with these sensors on the market.

IMX220: It is mainly equipped with Sony and Meizu models. Since Sony Xperia Z1, the 20 megapixel mobile phone image sensor has been born. At the same time, Sony chose to stop selling this sensor, which forced mobile phone manufacturers to find another way. Some can only customize sensors to other suppliers to break through the 13 million pixel limit. Manufacturers with insufficient funds and status can only tolerate this unfair treatment. Samsung simply launched ISOCELL sensors that have been developed for many years to compete. With the recovery of the productivity of high pixel sensors, Sony began to release such restrictions until Meizu MX4. Even though they are all IMX220, Sony's own version not only uses a larger lens aperture and a wider field of vision than Meizu's ultra wide-angle lens, but also has a slightly better image quality and optimization.

IMX230: Huawei, Meizu, Moto and LeEco all have models equipped with this sensor. Taking Meizu as an example, Meizu MX4, Meizu MX4 Pro and Meizu MX5 all adopted IMX220 until Meizu PRO 5 started upgrading to IMX230. Compared with the previous one, it introduces phase focusing technology and supports 4K hardware HDR video recording function. The biggest advantage of Meizu PRO 5 is that it supports three auto focusing technologies of phase focusing combiner on the basis of Meizu MX5 contrast focusing and laser focusing.

IMX300: On the three models of Sony Xperia Z5 series, Sony once again monopolized the new sensor IMX300, which further pushed the main camera specification to 23 million pixels. Later, Sony Xperia X Performance and Sony Xperia XZ, the two flagship products in the first and second half of 2016, also used this sensor. It is worth mentioning that Sony Xperia X Performance has started to further upgrade its focusing system. Upgrading from hybrid focusing mode (contrast and phase focusing) to predictive hybrid auto focusing can greatly improve the focusing speed and accuracy. However, the 4K video recording function was canceled, and it was not reintroduced until Sony Xperia XZ began.

IMX318: ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe launched IMX318 for the first time in the world. Since then, in addition to Sony itself, ASUS can also have 23 million pixel image sensors. However, the specification of the IMX300 is still inferior to that of Sony's own car. Because the sensor size is smaller, the unit pixel size is only 1 μ m。 However, it has such selling points as phase focusing and three-axis electronic anti shake.

Come to the most complex identification of 12 million - 16 million pixel sensor models. In recent years, mobile phone manufacturers have been particularly keen to find the core components of the photographic artifact in this area.

Let's take a look at the 13 million pixel model first. Since the 12 million pixel main camera of Sony Xperia S in 2012, the pixel war of image sensors in the smartphone field has officially entered a new era. In 2013, Sony sold the first 10 megapixel image sensor IMX135 to the public, which became a hot model. OPPO Find 5, Xiaomi Mobile 3, Samsung S4 and Sony Xperia Z all used this sensor. LG has used IMX135 more continuously on LG G2 and LG G3 for 14 years. Compared with the IMX134 launched in the same period, it uses a more advanced stack structure, but it castrates the hardware HDR function. Ironically, it is well known that Samsung S4 has better imaging performance than Sony Xperia Z. Although IMX135 is difficult to handle, Samsung still carries the difficulty. On the contrary, Sony, as a biological mother, seems to have no discipline.

In 2014, IMX214 successfully replaced IMX135 as the mainstream 13 million pixel sensor. The quality of this sensor is much easier to adjust than before. On the other hand, the IMX214 standard template sold by Sony adopts F2.0 lens aperture and 6P lens set. In order to improve the imaging performance in night scenes and weak light, it reduces the distance between microlens and photodiode, and supports 4K video recording and hardware HDR. With good foundation and easy adjustment, IMX214 has quickly become the standard configuration of photography flagship in 2014, and the performance of vivo Xshot, nubia Z7, OPPO Find 7 and other flagship machines is commendable.

In 2015, IMX278 and IMX258 came on the scene at the same time. The latter can be seen as the phase focusing version of IMX214. Typical examples are Xiaomi mobile phone 4c and Xiaomi mobile phone 4S. This year, many thousand yuan mobile phones also use IMX258, such as Meilan E and Meilan Max. As for IMX278, compared with ordinary image sensors, RGBW structure is innovatively introduced, which can theoretically obtain more light input. However, compared with IMX214, IMX278 cancels the hardware HDR function, and does not introduce the phase focusing technology like IMX258.

Since HTC One (M8), the dual camera design has gradually become popular in the mobile phone circle. At that time, the structure was a depth of field lens and an imaging lens. On HTC M8 Eye, the imaging lens was replaced from OV to Sony IMX214. The configuration of the flagship 360 mobile phone is replaced by IMX278 and IMX Mono. Both sensors are responsible for imaging, but the latter only records black and white images, which can obtain higher light input than the color sensor, thus further improving the brightness of the night scene.

In the past 16 years, Huawei P9 has continued this dual camera design, changing IMX278 to IMX286. It is worth noting that the specification has also been slightly adjusted from 13 million pixels to 12 million pixels. Since 2016, 12 million pixel image sensors have gradually increased. The IMX386 and IMX286 specifications on Meizu MX6 are very similar, but they adopt a single camera design and introduce phase focusing technology.

Let's continue to look at the 12 million pixel sensors in 2016. If Sony has customized IMX286 for Huawei P9, then Sony has customized IMX260 for Samsung. Compared with the previous Samsung flagship, the IMX260 on the Samsung S7 has actively reduced the camera pixels from 16 million pixels in the Samsung Note 5 to 12 million pixels, but the advantage is that the unit pixel size has increased to 1.4 μ m. In combination with the full pixel dual core structure and F1.7 large aperture, the Samsung S7 has a very balanced performance in terms of photography, which is excellent both in the daytime and at night.

As we all know, throughout the history of smart phones, the unit pixel size has exceeded 1.5 in the past μ There are only a few tens of millions of pixel sensors of M, and they are basically not made by Sony. This year, Sony finally got what it wanted on IMX378, and it has also been continuously used on Xiaomi 5s, Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL, with the unit pixel size reaching 1.55 μ m. The UltraPixel is the same as that of HTC 10.

Finally, let's take a look at the 16 megapixel sensor. Both IMX234 and IMX240 adopt 16:9 frame design. Compared with ordinary sensors with 4:3 frame design, the biggest advantage is that they can obtain a wider field of view (the horizontal area increases) when taking pictures, and the vertical area of view is relatively reduced. The representative model of IMX234 is LG G4, and a Sony customized chromatographic sensor is introduced to achieve more accurate white balance performance. Nubia Z9, which also uses IMX234, does not seem to retain this sensor.

As for the representative models of IMX240, there are Lenovo VIBE Z2 Pro, Samsung Note 4, Samsung S6 and other Samsung flagship computers, which support hardware HDR. It is worth mentioning that Lenovo VIBE Z2 Pro also introduces dual RGB sensors for intelligent ambient light detection. Accurately judge indoor and outdoor environment through different color temperatures, assist white balance measurement, and truly restore color.

Finally, the IMX298 used by Huawei Mate 8, Xiaomi Mobile 5 and Nubia Z11 is introduced. Compared with IMX234 and IMX240, this sensor natively supports phase focusing, and does not need to plug in this technology like Samsung's flagship computer. At the same time, it continues the hardware HDR function of IMX240, and finally introduces DTI image quality enhancement technology similar to Samsung's ISOCELL pixel structure.

Postscript : Mobile phone manufacturers are particularly fond of launching IMX series sensors this year. Huawei, ASUS, Meizu, Xiaomi, OPPO and other manufacturers are competing for these titles one after another, but they just want to fight for a gimmick on their own mobile phones. To be fair, after years of development, Sony IMX series sensors have unknowingly got rid of the problem of IMX135, which is difficult to adjust, and become more mature and popular with mobile phone manufacturers. The image sensor has also got rid of the endless struggle of pixel matching in the past and returned to more realistic parameters and indicators such as image quality, sensor size and unit pixel size.

Zoom in to the whole camera module to see that the lens quality and system algorithm adjustment are also getting better, and the focusing technology is also advancing rapidly. Compared with the past, which can only use backward contrast focusing, those focusing technologies have played a different role in focusing speed and improving the film yield. The terms phase focusing, laser focusing and full pixel dual core structure, which used to only appear in digital cameras, have also been put into smart phones.

Our WeChat official account: playphone

More professional reviews of boutiques, more interesting videos, welcome to follow the WeChat official account《 Love to play computer games 》And The Machine. Pay attention to love computer and share the beautiful digital life.