The smartphone camera scene is currently dominated by the performance of Samsung’s monstrous 108MP sensor found on Xiaomi’s Mi CC9 Pro, which made its international debut last week. However, that doesn’t seem to be deterring Sony from hinting at a brand new IMX686 sensor, which will reportedly be coming sometime in 2020.
The IMX686 sensor was teased in a video that was recently uploaded on Weibo. The video showcased its performance in various conditions such as landscapes, portraits, and low-light environments which also highlights its dynamic range capability.
Stating the obvious, the Sony IMX686 sensor is the direct successor to the very popular IMX586 camera sensor that launched last year. Since its launch, the sensor has been widely used by a variety of heavyweight brands, including OnePlus, Xiaomi, and many more.
It should be noted that Sony also included a disclaimer explaining that all images were captured by the IMX686 sensor on a prototype board and the smartphone used in the teaser video is merely a mock device for demonstration purposes. Additionally, the video itself was not captured by the sensor.
With all that’s said and done, there’s still no official announcement about the IMX686 from Sony. On top of that, there’s also no mention of how many megapixels the sensor will support, although, at this point, it wouldn’t surprise us if that number exceeds 48MP. After all, Samsung’s already done that with its own 108MP ISOCELL sensor.
