Now 200MP cameras are coming to budget phones

Motorola was the first to bring a 200MP camera sensor to a smartphone, as the flagship Motorola X30 Pro and Motorola Edge 30 Ultra devices were launched a few months ago. Xiaomi joined the party with the €749 Xiaomi 12T Pro earlier this month, but 200MP cameras are coming soon to mid-rangers as well.

Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand announced on Weibo that the upcoming Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus will indeed feature a 200MP main camera. Specifically, the company will use the recently announced Samsung Isocell HPX sensor.

A mid-range 200MP sensor

This sensor offers a sensor size of 1/1.4 inch and a tiny pixel size of 0.56 microns. That’s a 12% smaller pixel size than the 200MP (0.64-micron pixel) HP1 sensor used in the Xiaomi 12T Pro and Motorola flagships.

Otherwise, the sensor is capable of packing four pixels into one to deliver images comparable to a 50MP 1.12 micron pixel camera. It is also capable of packing 16 into one to produce images comparable to a 12.5 MP 2.24 micron pixel sensor. For what it’s worth, Redmi confirms that it will offer all three shooting modes (200MP, 50MP, 12.5MP).

Either way, the smaller pixels compared to the already small pixels seen on current 200MP phones means you shouldn’t expect better results in mixed-light or low-light conditions. But we hope the Redmi Note 12 Pro Plus has better image processing than the Motorola Edge 30 Ultra, as we thought the Moto phone delivered disappointing images with its 200MP camera.

Nevertheless, the Redmi Note 12 series will be launched in China on October 27. Redmi will also release a Note 12 Pro that day, and it’s already confirmed that the phone will replace a 200MP camera with a 50MP IMX766 main camera.