One of the unique features of Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 series smartphones is their variable aperture cameras that let you choose between F/1.5 and F/2.4 settings. It’s likely that will be a Samsung-exclusive feature for the time being. But another Galaxy S9 feature could be headed to third-party phones: super slow motion video (960 frames per second at 720p resolution).
Super slow motion relies on Samsung’s new 3-stack ISOCELL Fast 2L3 image sensor, which the company plans to make available to other phone makers.
There’s no word on if or when those phones will start to appear, but I should point out that Sony already has a camera that can shoot 960 frames per second at 1080p resolution. The company’s using it in its new Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact phones.
One thing Sony doesn’t have yet is a phone with dual cameras. But that could change soon too.
Sony is providing a sneak peek at an upcoming dual camera system for smartphones that uses the second camera and a special image signal processor to let you snap brighter images in low-light settings with less noise and blur than you’d get from other smartphone cameras.
According to Sony, its dual camera system offers ISO 51200 sensitivity for photos and ISO 12800 for video. You’d typically need a high-end DSLR-style camera to get that kind of low-light performance.
There’s no word on when Sony’s dual camera system will be available, but the company is showing off technical demonstrations at MWC in Barcelona this week.