Rival companies are competing to launch the first 64-megapixel smartphone camera sensor. With at least three brands in the race, which one will be first?

Axar.az reports citing foreign media that Xiaomi’s Redmi brand has released publicity shots from the 64-megapixel camera set to feature on an upcoming unannounced smartphone. The sharp snapper could be the highest resolution smartphone camera ever — but that depends whether rival brands Realme and Samsung will be first in the picture.

Redmi posted the above image on Chinese social networking site Weibo on July 22. It demonstrates excellent fine detail of the eye and fur of a cat in close-up. Android Authority translates the accompanying text as: “Redmi’s first 64 million pixel sample. Every detail is complete. The mobile phone officially entered the 64 million pixel era!”

Just a month previously, Realme pulled a similar stunt. The company’s CEO posted the above tweet claiming it to be “the world’s first smartphone camera with 64MP”. The sensor would be one component of a quad camera, and Realme seem to be very confident of getting to the market before anyone else.

There’s a good chance that both of these Chinese manufacturers could be left in the dust behind Samsung, though. After all, the 64-megapixel sensor was developed and produced by Samsung. But from all the rumours we’ve heard so far, the flagship Galaxy Note 10 will not feature the sensor, instead opting for a more conservative 12-megapixel main camera; a key Samsung informant instead claims that the sensor will first arrive in the budget-focused A-series.

It’s worth noting that all the phones that rumoured to feature the sensor are on the mid-range of the price spectrum rather than being key flagships. It’s another indication that the higher megapixel count does not necessarily mean higher quality.

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