Apple iPhone 5 To Have 1080p, 8-megapixel Camera Sensor?

The company behind the camera sensor used on the iPhone 4, Omnivision, has released its second generation backside illuminated sensor called the OV8830, one which allows the handset to record video footage at 1080p resolution at 30 frames per second.

The sensor will allow users to take eight megapixel pictures, producing excellent pictures even under low-light conditions as Omnivision says the OV8830 has 35 per cent better low light sensitivity compared to the previous generation, a 20 per cent improvement in peak quantum efficiency across color channels and a 45 per cent increase in full-well capacity.

What's more, the new sensor is 1/3.2 inches in size which makes it perfect for the iPhone 5 if, as expected Apple sticks to the current design.

With roughly four months to go before the launch of the iPhone 5, Apple may well have found its ideal video and image capturing tool and given the existing collaboration between the two firms, it would make sense for Apple to use it.

Beefing the capture capacity of optical sensor by 60 per cent implies that the iPhone 5 will almost certainly need a more powerful system on chip. The A5 should therefore provide the extra oomph that the A4, with its outdated SGX530 simply cannot provide.