Friday, July 26, 2013

The right side of 40. Smartphone vendors, get ready for "Megapixel Arms Race 2.0." Nokia's new 41Mpix Lumia has ended the détente. Soon Sony, Samsung...

Smartphone vendors might need to start playing the megapixel numbers game again.

Nokia recently reignited and re-excited the market for high-end camera phones with the impressive Lumia 1020. With a 41-megapixel camera and top-notch imaging features, Nokia introduced a product with some clear consumer WOW. 41 is a big number to beat, but other vendors are probably already working with imaging component vendors to pump up their flagship devices with more megapixels.

Take for example the rumor of Sony's upcoming Cyber-shot like Xperia i1 Honami camera-centric phone. It's key-selling point is expected to be a 20Mpix camera with 2/3" Exmor RS sensor, Xenon flash, and advanced on-board image processing.

Smartphone vendors have known for years that there is still significant opportunities to make the adjacent move into the market for good point-and-shoot cameras, and possibly beyond. Back in 2010, former Nokia executive Anssi Vanjoki predicted that cameras in smartphones would eventually get so good, they could even replace SLR cameras.

It will be interesting to see how the competition develops now. Nokia led the way this round, but competitors expected the device after the introduction of the Symbian-based 41Mpix "808 PureView." This market is filled with fast followers, so Nokia's window of opportunity could be gone in a flash.


1 comment:

mobi ritz said...

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