LG Innotek, LG's component manufacturing arm, announced the development of a new 16 MP camera module that has an f/1.8 aperture, making it the widest smartphone aperture on the market right now. (The Galaxy S6's camera comes close with an f/1.9 aperture). The new camera module began mass production this week, and it will appear for the first time on the market inside the LG G4, LG's upcoming flagship smartphone.
This means several things. The camera will of course take better pictures in dim conditions, but it should also be able to take fast pictures in well-lit environments, such as the outdoors in day time. It also means fewer blurry pictures, because the camera will capture the light that it needs much faster, leaving less time for camera shakes. Pictures of moving objects will also be less blurry for the same reason.
LG Innotek said that large apertures have been difficult to develop for smartphones because of the complexity of the task and the size of the camera modules that have to fit in the limited space of a smartphone.
We've recently started seeing more smartphones come with an 8 MP front camera due to the explosive growth of "selfies" and the high demand for a quality camera in the front of the device. With so many people taking selfies these days, the front-camera has become almost as important as the rear camera.
LG's 8 MP front-facing camera comes with an ultra-thin IR filter that's half the thickness (0.11 mm) of other IR filters on the market. The IR filter is useful to block infrared light from entering the camera lens, which gives pictures more natural and accurate colors.
"At LG Innotek, we are constantly working to ensure that the cameras we develop allow users to capture and preserve the moments that are most special to them," said Ung-beom Lee, CEO of LG Innotek. "We are extremely excited to see our technology in LG's next flagship smartphone because we believe that the power, precision and operability of our camera module will clearly make an impression on consumers."
The LG G4 smartphone that will have the new 16 MP camera with an f/1.8 aperture will likely be unveiled on April 28 and April 29 (depending on the time zone) when LG will be holding some events in New York, London, Paris, Seoul, Singapore and Istanbul. The device is also expected to have a Snapdragon 810 SoC, 5.5" QHD (2560 x 1440) screen and 3 GB of RAM.
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