Sony has officially introduced its highly anticipated Lytia 901 camera sensor, marking its entry into the competitive 200MP smartphone sensor market. This new sensor is designed to rival Samsung’s 200MP offerings, delivering advanced imaging capabilities in mobile devices.
The Lytia 901 features a 1/1.12" sensor size with a 14.287 mm diagonal and a pixel size of 0.7 μm. It utilizes an innovative Quad-Quad Bayer Coding (QQBC) arrangement, clustering 4x4 adjacent pixels with identical color filters. These 16 pixels are processed collectively to produce 12.5MP images, enabling high-definition quality even with 4x in-sensor zoom.
The sensor incorporates an industry-first AI-enhanced processing circuit that performs remosaicing, converting the clustered pixels back to a standard array during zoom. This technology ensures superior reproduction of fine details such as intricate patterns and text. Sony also highlights high-speed processing capabilities, supporting up to 30fps video capture in 4K with up to 4x zoom.
Advanced features of the Lytia 901 include DCG-HDR and Fine 12-bit ADC technology, which extend tonal expression and dynamic range up to 4x zoom. The sensor’s Hybrid Frame HDR (HF-HDR) mechanism delivers over 100dB of dynamic range in QQBC mode, effectively reducing highlight blowouts and blackouts in shadows for images that closely mimic human vision.
The Lytia 901 supports video recording at 8K 30fps and 4K 120fps. It also offers burst shooting at 60fps for 12.5MP images, 30fps at 50MP, and 10fps at full 200MP resolution. Industry rumors suggest that Oppo’s Find X9 Ultra and vivo’s X300 Ultra will be among the first devices to incorporate this sensor. Shipments to manufacturers have already begun this month.
