In the blink of an eye, the first round of new machine launches in 2022 has basically come to an end. I don't know how everyone feels about this batch of new flagships before the Spring Festival? But at least for our Sanyi life, we may still be more looking forward to some new products that will appear after the Spring Festival.
But the topic we're going to talk about today is not a specific model released years ago or its experience. In fact, what we want to talk to you about this time is that it has been particularly common in the industry since the end of last year, and even on this batch of new flagships at the beginning of this year, it is a "small part" that has appeared five times over and over again.
Its name is Samsung S5KJN1, which is often referred to as "Samsung JN1" by mobile phone manufacturers.
What is Samsung JN1? It is an ultra-small CMOS sensor for mobile phones launched by Samsung in June 2021. When we look at the entire industry, we find that JN1 has become a hot spot sought after by the entire industry almost shortly after its release.
For example, so far, a number of brands, including iQOO, Redmi, and realme, have used JN1 in the rear main camera solution of their thousand-yuan new machine.
For example, on the "Pioneer Image Flagship" S12 series launched by Vivo at the end of last year, the front-facing main camera scheme "JNV" of the highly suspected JN1 "customized version" was used.
Not to mention that at the beginning of this year, a number of new flagships, including the True Self GT2 Pro, iQOO9 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, etc., "unanimously" chose JN1 as the rear ultra-wide angle main camera, and have played the slogan of "the industry's broadest field of view".
To be honest, a CMOS sensor with excellent performance and excellent user reputation has been "popular" in the entire industry many times in the past. But most of these CMOS "uses" are very single, such as IMX363, IMX766, Samsung GM1, GH1, almost all manufacturers just use them as a post-camera solution. Like JN1, not only do you use more manufacturers and carry more products, but you can also use examples of different parts on different products, which seems to have never been seen before.
However, the key question arises. Is the Samsung JN1 really so "versatile", or is it really suitable for all models from the thousand yuan level to the flagship level?
To understand this problem, we must first of course start with the Samsung JN1 itself.
On the official website of Samsung Semiconductor, it is not difficult to find the parameters of JN1, which shows that this is a 50-megapixel CMOS sensor. Due to the use of the latest ISOCELL 2.0 pixel isolation structure, its single pixel size is only 0.64μm, which is currently the smallest in the industry. Because of this, the JN1's sensor size is only 1/2.76 inch, and it is fully compatible with the previous 1/2.8 inch small bottom sensor device design.
Compared with Samsung's other 50-megapixel solutions, the JN1's size and focus design are much "mini"
In addition, JN1 supports up to 10-bit color shooting in color indicators. In terms of focus structure, it does not have a Dual-Pixel design that significantly enhances macro effects and focus speed, but instead uses a relatively mediocre dual super PD focus optimized for low-light environments. As for the dynamic image shooting capability, JN1 supports the recording of 60fps video with a maximum resolution of 4K resolution, but does not support advanced video functions such as stacked HDR, nor does it support shooting 8K resolution content.
What do these metrics mean? In simple terms, the Samsung JN1 is actually a CMOS sensor developed with the goal of "ultra-thin, ultra-small size, and high pixels". It has a thinner, smaller physical size than other 50-megapixel solutions, allowing it to be mounted into the front camera of the phone and can also be adapted to larger and thicker lenses, resulting in a larger ultra-wide-angle field of view. Of course, this also means that it can also be used as the main camera of a smartphone, and it can play a role in making the body thinner and the camera part less prominent.
At the same time, in terms of sensor size, pixel design, and focus structure, Samsung JN1, although compact, is still larger, more sensitive and focused than most CMOS dedicated to front-shot. In addition, compared with the 13 million or 8 million pixel "ultra-wide angle secondary camera" used on many models, it also has the technical specifications of comprehensive crushing.
The macro effect of the OnePlus 9 Pro shooting with the IMX766 ultra-wide-angle secondary camera is something that JN1 can't do anyway
However, if we compare it with the IMX766, which has been on some flagships since last year as an "ultra-wide-angle main camera", we will find that JN1 is completely behind the IMX766 "old flagship" regardless of sensor size (1/2.76 inches vs 1/1.56 inches), pixel size (0.64 inches vs 1 inches), focus structure (phase focus vs omni-pixel omnifocus), or video shooting capability (IMX766 supports stacked HDR video).
With this in mind, it is not difficult for us to draw conclusions.
For the thousand-yuan machine, the quality of JN1 as the main camera is actually quite good
First of all, for the entry-level thousand-yuan machine that has not used the main camera of the large bottom in the past, Samsung JN1 is an acceptable rear main camera solution. Although it is not large, the picture quality when the light is full is not too bad, and the focus performance is better than the high-pixel solution of many older models.
Second, for the front camera, JN1 is undoubtedly the strongest option today. After all, its "size" is already very huge in the CMOS that can be used to shoot forward, coupled with the improved pixel structure, it is better than all the previous high-pixel front camera design.
The JN1 ultra-wide-angle secondary camera of the iQOO9 Pro is also improved compared to the IMX598 on the iQOO8 Pro
In addition, for some of the original "ultra-wide-angle secondary camera" configuration is more ordinary, switching to JN1 as the rear ultra-wide-angle lens is indeed an upgrade. After all, although JN1 is considered a "small man" in high-pixel CMOS, it is still a "giant" compared to those low-pixel or old models of 48 million CMOS.
The only exception is for those models that used the IMX766 as an ultra-wide-angle solution in the previous generation, but replaced it with JN1 on subsequent products. Compared to the IMX766, JN1's only advantage may be that it can support an ultra-wide field of view of 150 degrees. But in addition, whether it is image quality, resolution, focus distance, focus speed, video shooting ability, JN1 is far behind the IMX766.
For those flagship models that take "image" as the main direction, JN1 is obviously not a good choice for "ultra-wide angle main camera", but more like a compromise and cost reduction product.
【The picture of this article comes from the network】