"Industry experts anticipate that 20+ megapixel image sensors will be the next popular resolution threshold for flagship smartphones in 2015. The OV23850 and OV21840 are designed to facilitate the adoption of this resolution range by smartphone OEMs," said Harish Iyer, senior product marketing manager at OmniVision. "We see the megapixel race in the smartphone segment as heating up, with flagship smartphones reaching toward not only DSC-comparable resolutions, but also advanced features such as fast autofocus, HDR mode, burst mode and slow motion video that today are characteristically restricted to DSCs. The OV23850 and OV21840 can provide OEMs with the opportunity to make the full range of these advanced capabilities a reality for their new flagship devices."
The stacked technology is said to enable additional sensor functionalities, such as phase detection autofocus (PDAF), two-dimensional contrast fast autofocus and HDR video, while maintaining a small footprint. OmniVision plans to combine the two-dimensional contrast-based fast autofocus, which is up to 4x faster than traditional contrast autofocus, with PDAF to offer an optimized hybrid fast autofocus function.
The 23.8MP OV23850 can capture images at 24 fps speed, while 21.4MP OV21840 supports 27 fps speed at full resolution. Both are capable of recording quad high definition (QHD) video at 30 fps in HDR mode to enable 'always on' HDR preview mode for a resolution size popular with flagship smartphone displays. Additionally, the sensors support 720p120 and 1080p90 video modes.
The OV23850 and OV21840 fit into 10.5 x 10.5 mm modules with z-heights of 6.3 and 6 mm, respectively. Both sensors are currently sampling and are expected to enter volume production in Q1 2015.
