A recent leak by tipster @heyitsyogesh via Twitter, corroborated on Weibo by Ice Universe, has indicated that South Korean smartphone manufacturer Samsung is in talks with Japanese camera maker Olympus for a collaboration that could see Olympus producing the camera module for future Samsung smartphones.
Olympus has a chequered history of camera manufacture since it began operations in 1919. Samsung manufactures image sensors, but it seems to be looking in the direction of Olympus to produce high-quality photo and camera modules for its forthcoming smartphones. Olympus is a leading manufacturer of optical and reprography products.
If the partnership is confirmed, Samsung will join a growing list of smartphone brands that have outsourced the production of its camera to camera manufacturers. The list includes Huawei, OnePlus, and Vivo.
Ok this could be huge!
With the Note lineup out this year, Samsung is going big with the Fold 3.
Heard about this very briefly, Samsung might be jumping on the latest trend of partnering with a camera brand. We might see this possibly happen on a special edition Fold.
— Yogesh (@heyitsyogesh) April 6, 2021
Samsung is seeking to substantially improve the picture quality of its smartphones, and the tweet by the tipster says Olympus had approached Samsung for the collaboration, and the talks are progressing according to plans. The partnership may culminate in Olympus producing the camera module for the Galaxy S22, which is likely to enter the market within the first quarter of 2022.
While both Samsung and Olympus are yet to put out an official statement, the partnership holds a lot of promise for both companies. In what could be an additional pointer to the veracity of the partnership, Samsung is presently working on a chip that is codenamed Olympus. It is an Exynos processor that is a successor to the current Exynos processor plagued with lots of criticisms. The new Olympus chipset is expected to reflect a massive improvement in the performance compared with the current Exynos chipset.
So while we await official confirmation from both companies, it is apposite to reiterate that the leak is just a rumor which may be credible or a ruse.
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(via)