A camera sensor is among the most important components in a smartphone, and Sony is the world's number one camera sensor maker. Samsung's System LSI division also makes camera sensors under the ISOCELL branding, and it is the second-biggest camera maker globally. While Samsung largely uses its own camera sensors in its Galaxy phones, that could change in the future.
Future Galaxy phones may use Sony camera sensors
According to a new report from ETNews, Samsung could use more Sony camera sensors in its smartphones in the future. Sony Semiconductor Solutions (which makes Sony camera sensors) plans to move part of its camera sensor production from Japan to South Korea, reportedly to expand and strengthen Samsung's supply of camera sensors. It is said to have discussed its plans with back-end semiconductor process companies, including LB Semicon, Doosan Tesna (NGion), ALT, and ASE Korea, for packaging and inspection processes.
Camera image sensor semiconductor wafers will be transferred from Japan to South Korea for packaging processes and turned into individual chips. Sony asked those Korean firms to use Class 10-level Clean Rooms for this post-processing. Class 10-level Clean Roms are those rooms in a manufacturing facility where less than 10 dust particles (larger than 0.5µm in size) are found in one cubic foot of space. These companies will also conduct the reconstruction process, which selects good quality chips and rearranges them.
An industry official familiar with the matter reportedly said, “Samsung’s MX division is encouraging competition by mixing image sensors made by its system LSI division with Sony products in smartphones, and Sony is expanding its back-end process to Korea to respond more actively to its customers. I understand that they are planning to proceed with it.”
Apparently, Samsung MX wants increased competition between Sony Semiconductor Solutions and its own System LSI subsidiary. This will result in faster implementation of newer technologies and lower costs for Samsung. Sony currently has over 50% market share in the global mobile camera sensor market, while Samsung is a distant second at 10%.
