Samsung's new slim image sensors could be used in future bezel-less smartphones

Samsung has helped a great deal to promote the current trend of smartphones with nearly bezel-free displays, thanks to the success of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, and more recently the Galaxy Note 8. Today, the company announced it has developed two new camera image sensors that offer high-end hardware with a slim design, which could be used in future bezel-less smartphones.

The ISOCELL Slim 2X7 has a pixel size of 0.9 μm, which Samsung says is the first sensor in the industry to have a pixel size of below 1.0 μm. Even with that tiny pixel size, this sensor can give smartphone cameras a high color fidelity, and allows those phones to cram in a 24 MP image sensor inside a thin casing. Samsung added this sensor also has Tetracell technology, which allows it to take brighter images dark settings, along with more detailed photos in brighter settings.

The other new image sensor revealed by Samsung is the ISOCELL Fast 2L9, with Dual Pixel technology that puts in two photodiodes in each pixel of the sensor instead of just one. This will allow smartphones with this sensor to take sharp images of smaller objects that stand still, along with the ability to track and lock on moving objects, even in low light settings. It will also allow for images with depth-of-field effects, including bokeh settings.

Samsung indicated that its two newest image sensors can be applied on both the front and rear of smartphones. It did not reveal when the first devices with these new components will be released, but we would expect both to be included in future Samsung smartphones.