Sony one-ups Samsung with its new 1-inch smartphone camera sensor

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra will mark the debut of Sony's IMX989 sensor

Sony's got a long history in digital imaging, creating not just plenty of cameras itself, but also producing the hardware that goes in other devices. If you're building a smartphone in 2022, the odds are good that if you're not using one of Samsung's ISOCELL sensors for your camera, you're going with a Sony component. Samsung's most recent launch — the 200MP ISOCELL HP3 sensor — is still a long way from making it into a commercial product, but Sony is not wasting any time showing off its new 1-inch camera sensor, the IMX989, set to debut with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra on July 4.

We've been anticipating a big new camera module for Xiaomi's upcoming flagship, and now CEO Lei Jun confirms plans to use the Sony IMX989 in the 12S Ultra.

While a 1-inch sensor on a phone is big news, Xiaomi won't be the first to squeeze a camera that big into a smartphone. Models like the Sharp Aquos R6 (or the Leica Leitz Phone 1) and the follow-up Aquos R7, in addition to the Sony Xperia PRO-I, have all featured 1-inch camera sensors. The IMX989 has one key distinction, however: it's the first 1-inch camera sensor built explicitly for smartphones (as per SamMobile), rather than repurposing an existing component.

With the Xiaomi 12S Ultra likely to dominate the news cycle for its 1-inch camera sensor, there will be comparisons drawn between Sony's offering and Samsung's ISOCELL HP1 sensor, which is rumored to launch alongside the Galaxy S23 Ultra next year. Although Samsung recently took the wraps off the 200MP ISOCELL HP3 sensor, it won't be commercially available until at least late next year or early 2024.

We should start getting a better idea about the quality and performance of the IMX989 camera sensor when the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is officially unveiled on Monday, along with the Xiaomi 12S and the Xiaomi 12S Pro. Those two will feature the 50MP Sony IMX707 camera sensor, according to Xiaomi's Weibo page. Separately, leaker DigitalChatStation notes on Weibo (via DigitalTrends) that the Sony IMX989 sensor could be a 50MP component.

It's too soon to tell if the new camera sensor on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra will rival the image quality we get from, say, Samsung's flagships with high-end cameras, such as the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Just cramming in a large image sensor doesn't automatically translate to high-quality photos and videos, and we also have to factor in the impact of stuff like image processing algorithms — but we sure look forward to seeing the results for ourselves.