Technologies

Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Secret Weapon Could Be This New Samsung Chip

Exclusive: Samsung’s Isocell HP2 image sensor can shoot photos at 12.5, 50 or even 200 megapixels thanks to new pixel binning options.

With its new 200-megapixel Isocell HP2 image sensor, Samsung will try to give smartphone photographers the best of both worlds: high resolution and good image quality in challenging conditions.

The HP2 is in mass production. Samsung has neither announced its shipment date nor confirmed which phone it will arrive in. Still, the sensor is expected to power the main camera on the company’s flagship Galaxy S23 Ultra phone, likely to debut Feb. 1.

Image sensor designers face a tradeoff. Increasing resolution means each pixel on the sensor is smaller, and smaller pixels aren’t able to gather light as well. That means shots taken in low light are marred by noise speckles. They lose detail in shadowed parts of a scene. And they suffer blown-out highlights in bright areas like skies.

The HP2, though, brings new methods to counteract those problems and make the most of each photon of light, Samsung revealed exclusively to CNET.

The South Korean electronics giant’s sensor can gather light more effectively in the first place, boost high dynamic range (HDR) photos to cope better with scenes with dark and bright elements, the company said. And when shooting at the full 200-megapixel resolution, Samsung uses AI technology to help render the finest details.

It’s not yet clear how well the sensor will perform in real-world testing. But it’s no surprise Samsung is focusing on the technology. Camera improvements are a prime reason to upgrade phones, with better photos and videos more noticeable than marginally better processors, battery life and network technology.

«The full 200MP resolution especially shines when shooting at concerts or outdoors where there’s lots of detail to be captured,» said JoonSeo Yim, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics’ sensor business. «It may not be the predominant setting for most consumers, but we definitely see the need for highly detailed images.»

Apple, Samsung’s top smartphone rival, is likewise investing heavily in its cameras. Comparatively large lens elements protrude from the back of iPhone 14 Pro models to show off camera performance, and Apple has upgraded its sensors for better high-resolution and low-light shooting.

Better pixel binning options

One of the headline techniques for improving smartphone photos is called pixel binning. With it, groups of physical pixels can be combined into larger virtual pixels that gather more light when it’s dim, trading off resolution for lower noise and better color.

Samsung isn’t alone in using pixel binning. You’ll see it in the Apple iPhone 14 Pro, Google Pixel 7, Xiaomi 12T Pro and other phones, but the HP2 sensor is one of the most advanced. Apple and Google, for example, use 2×2 pixel binning that turn four physical pixels into one virtual pixel. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S22 phones have offered 3×3 pixel binning since 2019, offering 108 megapixel photos in good light and 12-megapixel photos when it’s dim.

Samsung’s HP2 can take 200-megapixel photos under good conditions. When it’s dimmer, pixel binning groups pixels into 2×2 chunks for a 50-megapixel image. And when dimmer yet, Samsung’s 4×4 «Tetra2pixel» chunks take a 12.5-megapixel photo.

The two levels of pixel binning were available on the 200-megapixel HP3, announced in 2022. However, the HP3 uses smaller pixels that, while minimizing camera bulk, aren’t as good at capturing light in the first place. The HP1, announced in 2021, also had it. But the HP2 adds some other tricks the HP1 lacks.

Pixel binning ups and downs

Pixel binning has some other advantages. Cameras can crop in on the central portion of the image to zoom into more distant subjects. It’s a key foundation to the effort to give smartphones zoom abilities like traditional camera lenses. Pixel binning also opens up new options for high resolution 4K and 8K video.

Pixel binning has downsides, though. It takes a lot of battery power to process all those pixels, and storing high-resolution photos gobbles up a lot of storage space. And high-resolution sensors, while nice in principle, don’t achieve top image quality unless they’re paired with high-quality lenses.

«The full 200MP mode does require more RAM and power,» Yim said, which is why such high resolution sensors are only found on high-end smartphones.

One complication with the HP2 is figuring out color when shooting 200 megapixel photos. Digital cameras capture either red, green or blue light for each pixel, but the Tetra2pixel design means each 4×4 pixel group captures only one of those colors. To help fill in the color detail needed within those 16-pixel groups, Samsung uses an artificial intelligence algorithm, the company said.

Samsung HP2’s image quality improvements

The sensor has other tricks to boost image quality, particularly with high dynamic range scenes with both bright and dark details. Here are a few:

A technology called Dual Voltage Transfer Gate (D-VTG) gives each pixel a 33% better ability to gather light, which should improve image quality in dim scenes and cut back on washed-out white patches in bright skies.
Samsung’s Dual Slope Gain (DSG) feature improves HDR photos by digitizing each pixel’s exposure data at two different scales to gather bright and dark data when shooting in 50-megapixel mode. The abundant pixels on the sensor mean some pixel quartets are tuned for bright light and others for dimmer light.
A related feature called Smart-ISO Pro is a separate HDR technology that adapts to different scenes, employing different combinations of sensitivity settings appropriate for the different frames used to build the HDR photo.

Another new feature in the HP2 is an improved autofocus with a technology called Super QPD. It can spot either horizontal and vertical lines across 2×2 pixel groups, helping the camera lock onto details like horizons or tree trunks even when it’s dim, Samsung said.

Each HP2 pixel is 0.6 microns, or 6 millionths of a meter, wide. That’s a shade narrower than the 0.62 microns of the HP1. For comparison, a human hair is something like 75 microns across. Combined into a 2×2 array for 50-megapixel photos, the pixel width increases to 1.2 microns, and in 4×4, to 2.4 microns.

«We expect that high-resolution image sensors will become a standard feature in future flagship smartphones,» Yim said. «Because of that, we think it’s important to continue our efforts, from advanced pixel processes below 0.5 microns to pixel performance and algorithms.»

Larger sizes are better at gathering light. The Samsung pixel sizes are pretty similar to the iPhone 14 Pro’s main camera sensor, which uses 2.44 micron pixels in 12-megapixel mode and 1.22 microns in 48-megapixel mode.

When it comes to video, the HP2 has many options. It can shoot 8K video at 30 frames per second by using the sensor in its 50-megapixel mode. It can shoot 4K video at 120fps, or, if Smart-ISO is engaged, at 60fps. For 1080p video, the sensor will shoot at 480fps without autofocus and 240fps with autofocus.

Technologies

Tim Cook Riffs on Retirement Rumors, AI, Phone Addiction and Trump

The Apple CEO discussed a range of topics on Good Morning America.

Tim Cook isn’t going anywhere just yet — not during Apple’s 50th anniversary celebrations, not with the company preparing to introduce its first foldable phone, not while the tech giant is trying to figure out how to beat the AI race.

In a sit-down interview with Good Morning America host and Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan this week, Cook, who turned 65 in November, said there was no truth to the rumors that he is considering retiring from Apple. He became CEO of the company in 2011, 13 years after joining from Compaq.

«I love what I do deeply. Twenty-eight years ago, I walked into Apple, and I’ve loved every day of it since,» Cook told Strahan. «We’ve had ups and downs, but the people I work with are so amazing. They bring out the best in me, and hopefully I can bring out the best in them.»

Strahan interviewed Cook during the Apple CEO’s visit to Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Harlem, where students use Apple technology through the company’s partnership with the nonprofit Save the Music.

Speculation about Cook stepping down has been circulating since last November, when the Financial Times cited unnamed sources saying that Apple was preparing to usher in a new CEO «as soon as next year.» Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman threw water on that report, saying he «would be shocked if Cook steps down in the time frame outlined by the FT.»

During Cook’s tenure as CEO, Apple’s revenue has nearly quadrupled, with the tech giant adding dozens of new iPhone models, several more iPads, and updated Apple Watches and AirPods. This year, Apple has launched several new products, including the MacBook Neo, which at $599 has disrupted the budget laptop market. The company’s first foldable phone could come later this year.

Touch some grass

The GMA interview was short but wide-ranging, including Cook’s thoughts on how much people use their iPhones. Many studies estimate that people across most generations spend at least 4 hours a day on their phones, with millennials and Gen Z spending 5 to 6 hours.

When asked what he worries about most regarding Apple products’ impact on society, Cook weighed in, telling Strahan he doesn’t want people using iPhones «too much.»

«I don’t want people looking at the smartphone more than they’re looking in someone’s eyes,» Cook said, «because if they’re just scrolling endlessly, this is not the way you want to spend your day. Go out and spend it in nature.»

More on Apple from CNET:

AI and privacy

Cook told Strahan that AI «can be so positive,» but his response when asked whether he was «worried» about it was fairly flat.

«Technology doesn’t want to be good, and it doesn’t want to be bad,» Cook said. «It’s in the hands of the user and the hands of the inventor.»

Strahan questioned how much of iPhone users’ private lives are feeding Apple’s AI learning machine. Cook told him that because the smartphone is encrypted, Apple doesn’t have access to it. He went on to say: «When we can’t answer a question on your device, we send it to something called private cloud compute, which is essentially a big device in the sky that has the same kind of security and architecture as your phone.»

On its website, Apple says that it «does not use our users’ private personal data or user interactions when training our foundation models.»

To date, Apple has been cautious in diving into the AI scrum. While Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are spending nearly $700 billion combined on AI tech this year, Apple is «only» investing $14 billion.

Trump and tariffs

Cook has been criticized for being too cozy with the Trump administration: donating $1 million to President Donald Trump’s inauguration; giving him a 24-karat gold plaque; and attending a White House screening of Melania, a film about the First Lady.

The Apple CEO told Strahan that he’s «not a political person» on either side.

«I’m kind of straight down the middle, and I focus on policy,» Cook said. «So, I’m very pleased that the president and the administration is accessible to talk about policy.»

One of those policies has been tariffs, which Trump has imposed on many nations to varying degrees during his second term in office, purportedly to pressure companies to shift their manufacturing to the US. The president has largely spared Apple, which promised to invest $600 billion over four years to make more products in the US.

Cook told Strahan that the glass for the front and back of an iPhone will come out of Kentucky by the end of the year, and that 100 million chip engines will be manufactured in Arizona this year. He also noted that 20 billion semiconductors will be made in the US. «We’re a very proud American company, and we want to do as much here as we can,» Cook said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for March 19, #1012

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for March 19 #1012.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features another tricky purple category, where words hide inside the clues and you have to dig them out. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Children’s stories.

Green group hint: Lucky charms.

Blue group hint: One color, then the next.

Purple group hint: Hidden words relating to music.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Folk tale characters.

Green group: Good luck symbols.

Blue group: Things that change color.

Purple group: Ending in music genres.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is folk tale characters. The four answers are Chicken Little, Frog Prince, Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is good luck symbols. The four answers are evil eye, four-leaf clover, horseshoe and rabbit’s foot.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is things that change color. The four answers are chameleon, mood ring, sunset and traffic light.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ending in music genres. The four answers are baby blues, pet rock, scrap metal and soda pop.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 19, #542

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle No. 542 for Thursday, March 19.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is tricky. Remember that many athletes’ surnames look like common words, so if you’re having trouble sorting the answers, think about whether a particular word could be someone’s last name. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Football division.

Green group hint: They catch the pigskin.

Blue group hint: College hoopsters.

Purple group hint: Where’s the glass slipper?