Samsung’s new 200MP LOFIC sensor
The information is coming from one of the most reliable Chinese leakers in the industry in the past couple of years — DigitalChatStation. The tipster posted on Weibo (translated from Chinese): “Exclusive Foresight: Next-Generation Evaluation Material HPA, 200Mp 1/1.12″ LOFIC”These HPA, 200MP, and 1/1.12″ specs point toward Samsung’s upcoming ISOCELL HPA sensor with LOFIC tech on board. It’s a nearly 1-inch mobile camera sensor, and LOFIC stands for Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor.
What’s Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor tech?
Omnivision’s TheiaCel employs LOFIC tech | Image by Omnivision
This technology is aimed at vastly improving dynamic range by adding a hardware element to the pixels inside the camera sensor. When a pixel inside a camera sensor is exposed to a very bright light, the photodiode element fills up to its maximum capacity, so to speak, and anything in excess spills out and creates blown-out highlights, messing with dynamic range.
LOFIC adds a capacitor to every pixel in the camera sensor that acts like an “overflow tank.” If the signal is too strong for the photodiode, any excess is routed to the capacitor. The values are later read both from the photodiode and from the capacitor and combined to create one single value for each pixel.
The Galaxy S27 Ultra won’t get the new LOFIC sensor
Oppo flagships often get the latest and greatest camera tech | Image by PhoneArena
According to industry experts, Samsung won’t use its newest and most advanced camera sensor in the upcoming Galaxy S27 Ultra flagship. Instead, the sensor will most likely appear on the Oppo Find X10 Ultra, as DigitalChatStation writes on his Weibo post.
The Galaxy S27 Ultra camera system
We expect some upgrades to the S27 Ultra camera system, but no LOFIC | Image by PhoneArena
The latest rumors suggest that the Galaxy S27 Ultra will use the ISOCELL HP6, which is another 200 MP, 1/1.3-inch sensor rumored to be developed exclusively for the flagship. Samsung might also ditch the 3X 10MP telephoto camera or swap it with a larger sensor one with bigger magnification. Details are scarce at the moment.As for the Oppo Find X10 Ultra, it’s more than a year away. The X9 was announced in China last month, so the next model is not coming out anytime soon.
The next Chinese camera phone that could utilize this new HPA LOFIC sensor is the Vivo X500 Ultra, but we’ll have to wait and see.
