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Camera phones have a bad rap, especially when it comes to the quality of the pictures they take. Apparently Samsung would like to change that perception, by making more megapixels available to cell phone and smartphone manufactures.

It has done this through the development of the first 8 megapixel CMOS (basically an image) sensor for mobile phones. What makes this sensor special is its small size. According to Samsung, it has squeezed 8 megapixels into the same space, about 10.5 x 11.5 x 9.4 millimiters, as today's commonly-used 3 megapixel CMOS sensors.

With this new sensor, now available, cell phone and smartphone manufacturers can integrate an 8 megapixel camera into the mobile handsets they make without increasing their size to accommodate the additional 5 megapixels. So instead of 3 megaixels being the norm, 8 megapixel shooters could soon become commonplace in the mobile handsets we use.

And since vendors can use their current designs, but offer more megapixels, Samsung's new CMOS could help lower the cost of building higher megapixel camera phones as well, making them more widely available to consumers than they are today.

Although megapixels are important for picture quality, other factors come into play as well. The most common problem for camera phones is the lack of light available. A CMOS can only be so sensitive. Now if only someone would find a way to make integrate flashes more common in phones, without sacrificing battery life, of course.

Mobile handsets with shooters outnumber digital cameras by a wide margin. In fact, Nokia is now supplies more cameras worldwide than any other vendor.

It is expected about a billion canera phones will ship next year. Source: Samsung via engadget.

Source: Samsung via engadget.