It appears as though dreams of making Indie-films in 4K may soon be realised as OmniVision announces its new OV16820 and OV16825 16-megapixel image sensors. Based on the firm's OmniBSI-2, 1.34 micron technology, the new sensors have the capability of snapping stills and capturing 30fps video at resolutions of 4,608 x 3,456 whilst, most impressively, capturing video at 60fps in Quad Full HD AKA 4K2K - 3,840 x 2,160 - with a 12-bit RAW output.
Though we expect to find these sensors in camcorders first, they'll no doubt hit the high-end smartphone market in due course. We would suggest Apple's iPhone 5 as a potential contender, however, with the sensor requiring immense processing power and eight high-speed MIPI lanes for communication, it'll need to be backed by one heck of a CPU, which, even Samsung's upcoming Exynos 5 SoC is incapable of, which does place a bit of a damper on any near future hopes.
We'll be sure to keep our eyes peeled for new products featuring these 16-megapixel behemoths.
