Last month Xiaomi recently teased that it is working on a smartphone with 108MP cameras and soon after, Samsung unveiled its 108MP ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor. This sensor is touted to produce images with a resolution of 12,032 x 9,024 pixels and it seems that Xiaomi is working on three new handsets that will feature Samsung’s 108MP sensor. The news comes via XDA Developers, who spotted that the MIUI’s Mi Gallery app is adding innate support for viewing 108MP images in full resolution. The support is apparently being added for devices codenamed “tucana“, “draco“, “umi” and “cmi,“ and Samsung’s 108MP ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor could be used on the devices.
The codenames are said to represent unreleased Xiaomi smartphones but there’s a chance that not all of the four devices could be launched under the Xiaomi branding. The company might split the devices under Xiaomi and Redmi brand names, which seems like a more sensible business decision. However, this is all conjecture at this point and we advise you to take this with a pinch of salt. The MIUI Gallery app being updated for viewing 108MP images in full resolution is also a hint towards the increasing megapixel count. Xiaomi updated its Gallery app when smartphones with a 48MP camera were released so that one can view the images in full resolution.
The Samsung 108MP ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor that Xiaomi will use on its upcoming phones has over 100 million effective pixels. Thanks to this, it is touted to capture notable images in 'extreme' lighting conditions. The sensor size is 1/1.33-inch, and it implements Tetracell technology that combines four pixels into one, which is basically pixel binning. It can also help minimise noise and improve an image’s colour accuracy at the same time.