The GN1 sensor unveiled by Samsung last May, has 1.2µm-sized pixels before binning
Tech giant Google’s upcoming smartphones — Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro — will use the 50MP Samsung GN1 sensor for their main cameras.
The rumour was confirmed by a code in Google’s new Camera app, which arrived with the Android 12 Beta 4, GSMArena reported on Thursday.
According to the report, the code mentions ‘p21’, which refers to the upcoming Pixel 6 series, attached to a ‘gn1_wide’, which is very straightforward to decipher.
The GN1 sensor, which Samsung unveiled last May, has 1.2µm-sized pixels before binning. Combining them 4-to-1 turns the 50 million 1.2µm pixels to 12.5 million 2.4µm-sized pixels.
Additionally, it means that the Pixel 6 could come with a lot more Samsung, as the device’s Google Tensor chip is said to be built by Samsung based on the company’s 5nm process. The modem is also tipped to be from Samsung, and while there’s no word on the OLED display, it wouldn’t be too surprising if that was Samsung-made as well.
This is a huge improvement from the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G, which used the Sony Exmor IMX363, a 1/2.55-inch sensor with a 12.2MP resolution and 1.4μm pixel size. This explains Google’s claims that the Pixel 6 can gather 150 percent more light than the Pixel 5, its sensor is almost literally twice the size of the Pixel 5 sensor.
Recently, Google announced that it had developed its own custom-built chip to power the next generation of Pixel 6 smartphones that will arrive in the market later this year.
Called Tensor, the AI-enabled System on a Chip (SoC) has been developed specifically for Pixel phones.
These new phones redefine what it means to be a Pixel. From the new design that combines the same beautiful aesthetic across software and hardware with Android 12, to the new Tensor SoC, everything about using the Pixel is better, Rick Osterloh, Senior Vice President, Devices and Services, said earlier.
Google said that Tensor was built for how people use their phones today and how people will use them in the future.