Samsung today released a new high-definition CMOS sensor designed to fit in laptops bezel. The new CMOS chips is capable of 1.2 megapixel photo resolution and 1280 x 960 video resolution at 30 fps as well as 60 fps at 640 x 480 video resolution. The S5K4AW CMOS chip is just 0.25-inch in size and has improved low-light performance.
The 1.2-megapixel resolution is slightly lower than 1.3-megapixel webcams available on notebooks today, but Samsung claims that video performance of the new CMOS chip is very good in comparison. Samsung says that to improve the video quality of the sensor they use a process called 2 x 2 binning, which allows adjacent pixels to combine their data resulting in better video quality and 3x improvement in light sensitivity. Samsung has started sampling the new sensor and it will start mass production in first quarter of 2009.
[Via Slash Gear]