Samsung is reportedly working on its largest-ever 200-megapixel smartphone camera sensor, signalling a potential shift in strategy as the company looks to close the gap with rivals Sony and OmniVision.

According to well-known Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station, Samsung is developing a new sensor dubbed the ISOCELL HPA.

The unit is said to feature a 1/1.12-inch optical format – a notable jump from the 1/1.3-inch format used in recent 200MP sensors such as the ISOCELL HP2 and HP3.

While still technically shy of a full 1-inch sensor, a 1/1.12-inch design would bring Samsung much closer to the so-called “1-inch class” that has become a marketing and performance benchmark among premium Android devices.

A larger sensor surface area generally allows for improved light capture, which can translate to better low-light performance, improved detail retention and more natural depth rendering.

The leak also claims the ISOCELL HPA will incorporate LOFIC (Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor) technology.

LOFIC enables each pixel to store more charge via an additional capacitor, increasing dynamic range at the hardware level.

In practice, that could mean improved highlight and shadow detail without relying as heavily on multi-frame HDR processing – potentially delivering more balanced and natural-looking images.

The new sensor is reportedly slated for a 2027 debut and may first appear in flagship devices from Chinese manufacturers before making its way into Samsung’s own Galaxy lineup.

Separately, prominent leaker Ice Universe suggests the Galaxy S27 Ultra could instead use a related but smaller 1/1.3-inch 200MP sensor branded ISOCELL HP6. Despite retaining the current sensor size, the HP6 is tipped to integrate LOFIC and other refinements to narrow the performance gap with the larger HPA.

With the Galaxy S26 series only just launching, it remains very early days for S27 rumours.