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Light bows out of the smartphone camera industry

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It’s been an interesting journey for Light, the company that brought us that crazy 16-lens camera five years ago. It garnered a lot of hype when it was first announced, and once word got out that the company had secured $30mil in funding and the Light L16 camera was going to see a big storage increase, a lot of people got excited. It wasn’t until 2017 that they actually started shipping, but the reception was somewhat cold.

In 2018, it seemed Light was teaming up with a company (which turned out to be Nokia) to make smartphones, and in 2019 they announced partnerships with both Xiaomi and Sony. Now, Light has announced they are “no longer operating in the smartphone industry”. Exactly what this means for Light’s future is unclear.

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Xiaomi to partner with Nikon, Canon or even Hasselblad for their next camera array, report suggests

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The competition is fierce among smartphone brands. The camera and camera features are now a critical aspect in phone marketing. More megapixels, more cameras, and better software are key features when it comes to market strategies.

R&D is expensive so establishing partnerships with other manufacturers makes sense twice: Firstly, it saves on development resources.  Secondly, it validates the brand and puts a prestigious halo around it. Just look at the last crop of partnerships: Huawei & Leica, Motorola & Hasselblad and Nokia & Zeiss. (I could possibly say Sony & Sony, but that would just be funny). Now Xiaomi wants in on the camera “old money” and seeking out a partnership.

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Xiaomi launches the CC9 Pro, their first 108-megapixel camera smartphone

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Xiaomi recently teased a new smartphone containing Samsung’s new 108-megapixel sensor, the Xiomi Mi Mix Alpha, although this phone won’t be going into mass production, and it’s not quite ready for release yet anyway. But now they’ve gone and announced the CC9 Pro, which also features the 108-megapixel sensor and is now already for sale in China.

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Camera app source code suggests Xiaomi is working on a phone that shoots 8K 30fps video

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We’re only just starting to see 8K cinema cameras come down to more reasonable prices, and they’re still way beyond the needs of 99% of video shooters out there. But don’t let that deter you. According to the team at XDA Developers who’ve been looking at the source code for Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 11 source code, Xiaomi’s working on getting 8K into a smartphone.

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Xiaomi becomes the first to officially announce a 64-megapixel camera smartphone

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First announced in May, Samsung’s 64-megapixel ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor sounded pretty impressive. In July, Xiaomi teased a new camera that would feature this pretty insane sensor, as did Indian smartphone company, Realme.

It looks like Xiaomi has beaten them to the finish line, though. They have now announced the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, the world’s first smartphone with a 64-megapixel camera.

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Samsung has officially unveiled their 108-megapixel smartphone camera sensor

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Teased by Xiaomi just a few days ago for their upcoming Mi Mix 4 smartphone, Samsung has now officially announced its new 108-megapixel ISOCELL sensor. This marks the first smartphone sensor to go beyond 100-megapixels, replacing Samsung’s 64-megapixel sensor announced in May, as their highest resolution smartphone sensor.

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Xiaomi teases the first 64-megapixel smartphone with Samsung’s new Isocell sensor

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The megapixel wars for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras almost seems kind of dead, for the most part. Sure, there might be the occasional exception here and there, but things have generally settled down for the last few years. But they haven’t gone away completely. Instead, they’ve shifted over to smartphones.

We’re just now starting to see the rise of 48-megapixel smartphones, but Samsung has been working on 64-megapixel sensors, and it looks like Xiaomi might be the first to release a phone containing one. At least, they seem to be the first to be teasing one.

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Oppo and Xiaomi show off their first under-LCD front smartphone cameras

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The notch seemed like a great idea at the time. It allowed phone manufacturers to get back a little bit more screen space while still having a front camera. But then the notch became kind of annoying, and manufacturers have been doing what they can to eliminate it. ASUS turned theirs into a flip-out camera, and Oppo has already experimented with popup cameras.

Now, though, Oppo is showing off a new front camera that sits under the LCD itself. Xiaomi, too, has also been recently showing off a prototype smartphone with similar technology, too.

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Light has announced a new partnership with Xiaomi for future multicamera smartphones

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Well, even though Light’s L16 wasn’t the critically acclaimed success that the hype hoped it would be, it looks like Light’s technology is definitely being taken seriously by the smartphone world. After some heavy investment from Leica, a partnership with Sony, and the new Nokia 9 PureView containing Light tech, Light has now announced a new partnership with Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi.

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