Toshiba planning 13 MP phone camera with noiseless low light shooting

If you are more than well-informed about digital photography then you’ll know that the cameras on most smartphones are actually pretty crap. Toshiba hopes to change that with a new 13MP back-illuminated sensor that will deliver much better results in low light. Using the well-known CMOS-based TK437 sensor, low light performance and colour noise reduction will improve, a problem that affects most phone cameras.

The problem has always been size. When it comes to digital image sensors, “bigger is better” really does apply. Imagine squeezing a million pixels into a space the size of a postage stamp, versus the size of a credit card. And with mobile phones there is no space for a sensor bigger than half a postage stamp.

Toshiba isn’t known as being the world leader in smartphones, but it has been quietly producing devices for its local market. This could just put Toshiba on par with their main rivals OmniVision and Sony, and finally give more of an edge to an area that has always been lacking in the mobile world. Namely a proper digital camera on a mobile device.

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