The market for High Pixel image sensors is intensifying as component vendors are starting to offer image sensors with high-resolution capture capabilities in order to meet the growing demand for Smartphone OEM’s.

Following the recent introduction of Samsung’s 108MP and Sony’s 64MP image sensors, Yesterday OmniVision Technologies announced its first 64MP, OV64C image sensor for the Smartphone Industry. The company joins the likes of Sony and Samsung who are offering 64MP image sensors to its customers.

Image Source: OmniVision

Key Features

• The OV64C is a 64MP High Pixel image sensor that has an optical format of 1/1.7" and a pixel size of 0.8µm built on PureCel®Plus stacked die technology. This a premium image sensor designed for high-end smartphones.
• The sensor is designed on a 4 cell color filter array to provide a 64MP high resolution Bayer output image through a re-mosaicing algorithm. The sensor is also capable of performing well in low-light conditions by using a 4-to-1 pixel binning mechanism to enhance the total pixel size to 1.6µm and output a 16MP high-resolution binned image. OmniVision’s PureCel®Plus technology in this sensor also helps in capturing in low-light by improving the light sensitivity of each pixel and reducing crosstalk.
• The sensor enables shooting videos in 64MP resolution at 15fps and also claims to support 8K video at 30fps.
• The sensor supports 2x digital zoom, microlens phase detection autofocus (ML PDAF), 3-exposures and HDR.

Outlook

With the introduction of OV64C, OmniVision Technologies product offerings include 64MP, 48MP (OV48B, OV48C) and 32MP (OV32A) image sensors in the High Pixel sensor segment. The vendor has become aggressive after being acquired by Will Semiconductor Co. Ltd. in 2019.

We believe that OmniVision Technologies under the ownership of Will Semiconductor is targeting strong growth in the image sensor market after lagging behind Sony and Samsung in terms of market share and product offerings. The strong growth is expected to come from its current customer base of Chinese Smartphone OEMs.

Key Questions

• Smartphone OEMs can now consider the application of 64MP image sensors from Sony, Samsung and OmniVision within their devices. Will we see a major design win for OmniVision's OV64C? Or do we expect Samsung and Sony to continue to pull major traction for its own set of 64MP sensors?
• OmniVision Technologies has positioned this as a high-end image sensor with a premium ASP but could still see the application in mid-range devices launching in H2 2020. It will be interesting to see the smartphone models that would be using this sensor.

Strategy Analytics continues to monitor the Smartphone Image Sensor Market in its reports