Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Oppenheimer Research Speculates that Omnivision is Inside iPhone 4S

Oppenheimer Research note states that Omivision is likely inside the newly announced iPhone 4S. The #1 reason is:

"Apple in its iPhone release presentation mentioned that the image sensor is a 8MP sensor with the description 3264 pixels X 2448 pixels resolution or 7.99MP. It is spot on with OVTI's 8830 spec, whereas Sony's 8MP spec is 3288 X 2472 or 8.12MP."

Update: More analyst's speculations:

Barrons: R.W. Baird’s Tristan Gerra writes that his “field research” suggests Omnivision has lost some share to Sony in the 4S, citing anecdotal evidence that the Sony part matches the phone’s specs.

Various websites report these Sony Ericsson smartphones feature a Sony image sensor of the exact size as for the iPhone 4S (3264×2448),” he writes, adding, “Additionally, image sensor makers typically customize their sensors specifically for Apple without necessarily releasing the specs.

But JP Morgan’s Paul Coster comes to the stock’s defense, noting that Apple describes an a larger “active array size” to the iPhone’s sensor. That, he suggests, implies the phone uses OmniVision’s “OVT8830 CIS” chip. “The iPhone 4s sensor active array was announced to be 3264 by 2448, which is an exact match for the Omnivision OVT8830 first-generation BSI image sensor,” writes Coster, “We note that Sony’s IMX105PQ 8MPx chip has a 3288 by 2472 array.

Motley Fool writes, again relying mostly on the sensor format: "I think I've built a pretty compelling case here for the OV8830. Dual-sourcing a component this important just doesn't fit Apple's modus operandi."

13 comments:

  1. sony's spec is effective pixels and ovt's is just the active pixel array. the sne part has the same active pixel array. just look at the specs for the experia 10. based on this statement from this guy, ovt's stock ralled 20 percent because people thought it meant the sensor had to be from omnivision and not from sony. how funny.

    ek

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  2. this guy also said that the ov8830 was in the htc evo when chipworks pegged it as the ov8812. and i have always considered myself as an idiot when it comes to this stuff and this guy from opco's supposed to know the cis space. at least i know where to go (like vlad's site) to find good info.

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  3. Apple said it is the next-generation backside illumination sensor. It is referring to the Omnivision BSI-2.

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  4. funny because any CIS engineer knows that you can operate 3288 X 2472 in 3264 X 2448 mode but not vice versa. but then these analysts makes so much more than CIS engineer they forgot to check the facts. sad.

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  5. Comparing go Sony's BSI, even BSI3 is still a legacy process

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  6. Is 'full-well capacity' common words by image sensor engineers? Does SONY use these words too? It is interesting that both Apple and Omnivision used these words.

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  7. Sad news to end my day... Steve Jobs has died. RIP one of the greats.

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  8. iphone 4S was named after steve jobs....iphone 4 steve. RIP steve!

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  9. Just checked the stock price history of OV. It drooped from 30's in this May to 10's now, given the market only dropped 20%. What happened to OV?

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  10. Full-well capacity is standard jargon for sensor engineers. No further fuel to the speculation there.

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  11. the 4s was not named after Jobs. It is the standard naming scheme for 2 gens of phones now.

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  12. iphone4s is ov(豪威) 的摄像头,台湾人都知道ov(豪威)接下了
    iphone4s的前·后摄像头(vga + 8mp BSI-2)的订单!!!!!
    我是中国人。

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  13. Anonymous said...

    Anonymous said ...

    iphone4s is OV camera, the people of Taiwan know that OV took over
    iphone4s front and rear camera (VGA + 800 megapixel BSI - 2) in order !!!!!
    I am Chinese.
    http://news.chinatimes.com/tech/11050901/122011101100305.html
    ---------------------
    http://www.eepw.com.cn/article/124574_2.htm
    October 21, 2011 1:41 PM

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