Until now, Samsung has monopolized the market for 200-megapixel camera phone image sensors. It started in 2021 when it revealed the 200MP ISOCELL HP1: a 1/1.22" chip that first saw use in the Motorola X30 Pro, and later the Xiaomi 12T Pro.
The first Samsung phone to get a 200MP sensor was the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which featured Samsung's 1/1.3" ISOCELL HP2, and the same sensor has since been used in the S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra. Samsung also produces an ISOCELL HP3; another 200MP sensor, which we've seen in phones from Honor, Xiaomi and Realme. There's even the more recent ISOCELL HP9: a 200MP 1/1.4" chip designed specifically for use in telephoto modules.
But now Sony wants a piece of the 200MP sensor action. There's been speculation for some time that Sony might be developing such a sensor, but a new leak has come to light suggesting possible details. According to long-time tipster Digital Chat Station, the new chip will be called the IMX09E and could measure 1/1.12-inches in size, giving it 0.7µm pixels. Other details in the Weibo post suggest the sensor may be capable of 100+dB ultra-high dynamic range and support up to 4x lossless zoom when used in conjunction with the rumored Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. If these specs turn out to be correct, then the IMX09E would be the largest 200MP sensor we've seen, if still marginally smaller than Sony's current flagship image sensor, the 1/0.98", 50MP Lytia LYT900.
We don't yet have any information about which phones could actually feature this 200MP Sony sensor. The next flagship handsets from Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo are likely only a few months away, so it's possible we may see the IMX09E show up in at least one of those phones.
