Samsung reportedly working on a 3-layer stacked camera sensor for iPhone

Sony has had the exclusive manufacturing contract for iPhone camera sensors for more than a decade, but Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo last year suggested this would be changing with the iPhone 18. This has now been backed by another report, which provides a little more detail.

The latest one says that Samsung is working on a 3-layer stacked camera sensor for Apple, which should improve the performance of future iPhone cameras …

Sony’s iPhone camera sensors

Sony has for years made the most advanced smartphone camera sensors, and it’s been no secret that they have long made all of the sensors used in iPhones.

If teardowns revealing known Sony model numbers weren’t sufficient evidence, Apple CEO Tim Cook made it clear a couple of years ago, tweeting about a visit he made to Sony’s camera sensor facility in Kumamoto.

We’ve been partnering with Sony for over a decade to create the world’s leading camera sensors for iPhone. Thanks to Ken and everyone on the team for showing me around the cutting-edge facility in Kumamoto today.

But Samsung may make one for the iPhone 18

However, Kuo said last summer that Samsung was expected to make at least one of the sensors for the iPhone 18 in 2026.

Samsung is expected to begin shipping 1/2.6-inch 48MP ultra-wide CMOS image sensors (CIS) to Apple for iPhones as early as 2026, breaking Sony’s years-long monopoly on supplying CIS to Apple. To this end, Samsung has established a dedicated team to serve Apple.

Leaker Jukanlosreve, who mostly posts Samsung content, echoes this view, and claims to have some specifics about the sensor.

Exclusive: Samsung is currently developing a “3-layer stacked” image sensor in a PD-TR-Logic configuration for Apple. This sensor is more advanced than Sony’s existing Exmor RS, and I believe it cannot be ruled out as a potential candidate for the main sensor.

A stacked sensor is where the processing electronics are mounted directly to the back of the sensor, and a three-layer version would have more of the circuitry attached to the sensor, which should result in increased signal processing speeds. This would improve the responsiveness of the camera.

Stacked sensors also have the potential to eliminate some sources of noise, boosting image quality.

Separately, Jukanlosreve says Samsung is working on a 500MP sensor for its own smartphones. While this sounds ridiculous, it is consistent with the company chasing impressive-sounding megapixel numbers even if the end result is far noisier images.

9to5Mac’s Take

A pair of reports is still relatively slim evidence for what would be a pretty significant change to Apple’s supply chain, but there is no doubt that Samsung has been working hard to try to win the iPhone maker’s business.

Additionally, Apple prefers to have more than one supplier for major components, both for contingency planning and to improve its negotiating strength. So even if Apple continues to use Sony sensors, it’s perfectly credible that it would seek to source some from Samsung too.

While the report suggests the new sensor might be for the main camera, it seems more likely Apple would test the waters with a secondary sensor at first.

Photo of iPhone 16 Pro Max camera module: iFixit