Does anybody know the exact chip which is built into the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4? I've done research on the internet already but couldn't found any exact specification.
What I need is the imaging area (width and height) of the cmos chip in mm.
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Sign up to join this communityDoes anybody know the exact chip which is built into the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4? I've done research on the internet already but couldn't found any exact specification.
What I need is the imaging area (width and height) of the cmos chip in mm.
The iPhone 4 uses the Omnivision OV5650, and the 3GS uses either the OV3650 or a very similar model.
The 3GS has a 1/4" sensor, which, using the bizarre industry standard, means a sensor diagonal of about 4mm. The OV3650 has an array measuring 3.626mm × 2.709mm, giving a diagonal of about 4.5mm, so that fits the spec. (Presumably some small portion of the edge of the sensor is not used in imaging — see this question). The overall iPhone 3GS sensor area is about 9.8mm².
The iPhone 4 uses the much improved OV5650 sensor module, which is classified as a 1/3.2" sensor, with measurements of 4.592mm × 3.423mm, again presumably not all used. The overall sensor area is about 15.7mm².
Interestingly, the number of photosites per cm² is about the same between the two — the iPhone 4's increase in pixels is just about exactly the same as the increase in sensor area. But the iPhone 4 sensor is constructed differently, using "backside illuminated CMOS", which is probably what accounts for the very dramatic increase in image quality between the two models.