Sony may not be as popular a smartphone brand as it once was, but the Japanese company continues to produce high-end phones with some of the best camera features, and the company is now hinting at even more improvements.
According to a new report from Nikkei, Sony believes that its breakthrough technologies will allow smartphones to match and even surpass the capabilities of DSLR and mirrorless cameras in a few years.
"Still images will exceed the image quality of single-lens reflex cameras within the next few years," said Terushi Shimizu, President and CEO of Sony Semiconductor Solutions (SSS), during a recent briefing. Sony sees smartphones surpassing ILC image quality by 2024, according to a presentation given during the briefing.
It'll be interesting to see how Sony carries out this promise. The company has already released the Xperia Pro I with a 1-inch 20MP camera sensor, but due to distance constraints between the lens and the sensor, premium smartphones from the brand typically use a 12MP sensor.
Even if smartphone camera sensors can't compete with APS-C cameras in terms of size, smaller sensors will be able to capture much more light in the near future. While it is unknown when this technology will be available for smartphones, it has already been seen in Sony's flagship mirrorless cameras.
The company also discusses how AI processing capabilities are improving, pushing the limits of multi-frame HDR, longer-range zoom, and higher-quality video recording.
For the past few integrations of smartphone cameras, there hasn't been much advancement in terms of camera technology, owing to the fact that the companies have reached a saturation point. However, it will be fascinating to see how smartphone camera technology continues to advance.
