Aquos R6’s gigantic sensor

Aquos R6. © Sharp.

The latest trend is to load the backs of phones with several cameras to cover a wide range of uses. Sharp is going against the current with its new Aquos R6 phone: it features only one image sensor, but it is giant (1 inch diagonally), making it the largest phone camera sensor ever. Sharp won’t mention its sensor supplier, but there’s a good chance that it’s made by Sony, whose 1-inch IMX800 mobile sensor has been rumored for some time. This 20-megapixel sensor, combined with Leica optics, puts the phone in competition with high-end compact cameras such as Sony’s RX100. Other technical specifications: the device comes with Android 11, a Snapdragon 888 SoC, 12 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, a 5000 mAh battery, a microSD slot, a headphone jack and a USB-C port. The display is an OLED made by Sharp with a whopping 240Hz refresh rate. No price has been set yet, but the device is expected to launch in Japan in June.

⇨ Ars Technica, Ron Amadeo, “Forget multiple cameras—Sharp phone has one giant 1-inch camera sensor.”

2021-05-17