Last year, Samsung released a 200-megapixel HP1 sensor, but it never made it to the company’s smartphones. And a few weeks before the presentation of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 line, the company already announced the second generation of such a camera, which received the logical name — HP2.

Keeping the dimensions of the 108-megapixel camera used in the manufacturer’s last two flagship smartphones, the HP2 should already be used in the S23 Ultra.

The ISOCELL HP2 contains 200 million 0.6 micrometer (µm) pixels in a 1/1.3-inch optical format, the sensor size widely used in mainstream 108-megapixel smartphone cameras. This allows consumers to enjoy even higher resolution in the latest high-end smartphones without the big camera bumps on their devices.

Samsung announces a new 200-megapixel sensor for the Galaxy S23 Ultra — HP2

This sensor also combines pixels, like most modern competitors, which allows you to reduce the size of the image and improve its quality, especially in low-light conditions. HP2 will offer options with 50 MP (1.2 μm) or 12.5 MP (2.4 μm). It will also shoot video in 8K (33MP) resolution. Along with this, such a sensor involves all available pixels for focusing in dark situations. And the new HP2 Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (D-VTG) technology will reduce image blurring and improve colors in bright conditions.

In low-light conditions, HP2 autofocus is taken to the next level with Super QPD technology, which allows the sensor to use all of its 200 million pixels to focus agents. Enough focus agents are clustered across four adjacent pixels to recognize both horizontal and vertical pattern changes, resulting in faster and more accurate autofocus. Using rich pattern data along with a huge number of anchor points, the new sensor is capable of fast autofocus even in low light conditions.

And although the company does not say when exactly such a sensor will appear, it is noted that its mass production will begin soon, which is hardly a coincidence with the release of the S23 Ultra.