Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200MP HP2 camera could offer 16-bit HDR

At the Tech Day 2022 event, Samsung revealed its plan to launch new generation iToF camera sensor in near future. Meanwhile, the company has also indicated that the next 200MP ISOCELL HP2 camera sensor, which will be used in Galaxy S23 Ultra could have 16-bit HDR.

Samsung pointed out that the recently released ISOCELL HP3 that offers 14-bit HDR by enhanced iDCG. Since the full 14-bit or more is needed to capture eye-catching video, Samsung plans to launch 16-bit HDR sensors in the market soon.

As the company noted 200MP ISOCELL HP3 sensor for reference, it’s likely that the upcoming ISOCELL HP2 camera sensor could feature 16-bit HDR support on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Past reports reveal that the Galaxy S23 Ultra will use a Samsung-exclusive 200MP camera sensor.

At present, there’s no information about the HP2 image sensor, which is all set to be used in the Galaxy S23 Ultra. As the upcoming flagship smartphone lineup is allegedly releasing on February 1st, the company may release the HP2 sensor a few days earlier of Unpacked.

Notably, Samsung’s currently available camera sensors namely ISOCELL HM6 and GN5 bring Smart-ISO Pro and are offering a 12-bit HDR feature for sharp and detailed results, however, it’s not enough.

For still images, one solution is multi-exposure image capturing, which takes a long exposure image for the dark sections and then a short exposure image for bright sections, which later get merged together to create an HDR image.

“To help resolve issues, Samsung is building an in-sensor, single exposure HDR-technology. This enables the process required on SoC to be simpler, consume less power and reduce the motion artifact effect for HDR video, said a Samsung executive.”