Mobile phone maker realme partners Sony for upcoming 5G device with AI-imaging feature

Bangkok: Mobile phone-maker realme has announced a partnership with Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony for its upcoming 5G smartphone, with which the company will foray into a new segment of device having AI-imaging feature.

The announcement was made by realme officials at a pre-launch event in Bangkok on Thursday.

"This collaboration between realme and Sony will see the debut of the world's first Sony's LYT-701 camera sensor in the realme 13 Pro Series 5G," company officials said.

Addressing the media, Francis Wong, Head of Product Marketing at realme, said that for years, the smartphone industry has been locked in a megapixel, sensor size, and lens technology arms race.

While advancements in smartphone cameras have given users more flexibility and control, purely hardware-based improvements are reaching a ceiling, he said.

Wong said: "The future lies not just in better hardware, but in AI (artificial intelligence). AI is the new frontier that will decide the future of mobile photography." The company will later announce the dates for official launch of the device in India and other markets, a statement said.

The AI-imaging enabled device comes with industry first HYPERIMAGE+ technology which includes multiple lenses, periscope lenses, and large sensors, which provide the essential building blocks for capturing high-quality images, realme said.

Besides, it provides the user on-device AI imaging algorithms and cloud-based AI image editing.

The LYT-701 camera sensor and a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with the Sony LYT-600 enables the phones to deliver quality image.

"This collaboration is about more than just technology, it's about empowering everyone to capture and share their world in ways never before imagined," said Toshimitsu Kurosaka, Vice President of Sony Semiconductor Solutions (Shanghai) Limited.