• Coming Soon: Smartphones With 16MP Cameras

    Serkan Toto

    Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

    Monday, January 10th, 2011

    If you look at the batches of new cell phones Japan’s leading mobile carriers have been presenting in recent months, you’ll notice the high-quality cameras some of the models have. And now major Japanese chip maker Renesas (which merged with NEC last year) is even promising [JP] 16MP cameras in future handsets.

    The company claims its new image-processing system chip, the CE150, will make it possible to produce 16MP phone cameras for the first time, up from the maximum 13MP that are currently available. Renesas says the new chip paves the way to five times faster continuous shots, too.

    Users will also be able to shoot full HD video (Renesas unveiled a full HD video processor for cell phone cameras as early as December 2008).

    The chip will be mass-produced as early a March, with Renesas planning to churn out 1 million units monthly. Sample units are already available for $48 apiece.

    blog comments powered by Disqus