New Sony IMX230 Camera Sensor Found in Motorola Moto X Style

A topic of great interest for many of our readers is Sonys mobile ambitions and how that plays into the companys image sensor business. Just recently, it was revealed that Sony would be investing $4 billion into that division. Following that news, Sony revealed a new partnership with Japanese robotics firm ZMP to create Aerosens, a new drone company.

While odd at first, Sonys ambitions are clear; to create a compelling drone with stellar optics that are powered by the companies image sensors. In short, while Aerosens will be a fully functional company with its own path and vision for drones, the true goal of the company is to showcase Sonys sensor technology and sell it to much larger players like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Parrot, Lockheed Martin, and DJI.Now comes news that Motorola, a competitor of Sony Mobile, will be using the companys latest camera sensor, one that even Sony itself isnt using in their smartphone line.

Announced earlier this morning, the Motorola Moto X Style is the newest flagship smartphone that offers21 MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture, 1.1 micron 1/2.

4-inch sensor, Phase Detect Auto-Focus (PDAF) and 1080p/4K video HDR.This new 21-megapixel sensor is actually powered by the Sony IMX230 camera sensor. The Xperia Z3/Z4, the latest Sony flagship smartphone currently utilizes the Sony IMX220 though if a new flagship smartphone is on the way from Sony as rumored have pointed out, dont be surprised if they also use the IMX230.

While some, including former Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer, have called for Sony to keep their technology to themselves and not let it power competitors devices, the reality of the landscape is far different. Sony cannot afford to keep this technology to themselves when they are making billions from their competitors. While it would be an exclusive feature for Sony to keep, the truth is that image sensors are only part of the puzzle.

Apple famously uses Sonys older 8-megapixel sensor yet photos from the iPhone 6 tend to rival, if not flat out beat photos from Android devices that carry cameras with two or three times the megapixel count.Even if Sony was able to replicate the photo quality of its competitors in its mobile line, the reason consumers pick a certain device is never hinged upon a single feature. For that reason, Sony till now has lost the mobile market and while they could keep technologies like the IMX230 camera sensor exclusive to their mobile division which sells around 40 million units a year, they are instead selling hundreds of millions of these sensors to their competitors and in turn, fueling the company.

Now this doesnt mean that Sony is somehow on purpose piecing together devices for themselves that cant compete. If fact, the reason youre not finding the IMX230 in the current Xperia lineup is likely due to the fact that by the time they launched, Sony still hadnt finished this image sensor. Samsung who is a fierce competitor of Apple, no matter if their mobile division is doing good or poorly continues to supply Apple when they can because its just good business, thanks to the volume of devices Apple sells.

In this case, no matter if a consumer picks up an Xperia smartphone or one from Motorola, Sony stands to make a profit which is good business.Discuss:Do you think its wise for Sony to power its competitors devices?[Via XperiaBlog].

RELATED QUESTION What is the working principle of an electric motor ? An electric motor uses the attraction and repulsion of magnetic fields to produce motion. The simplest is the permanent magnet motor.

A simplified version is shown below.Placing a coil of wire inside a permanent magnetic field and fixed so it can freely rotate. Pass a current through the coil of wire and it will rotate to the perpendicular position.

Now reverse the current flow and the coil will spin 180 degrees. The brushes and the commutator does the switching directions of the current through the coil at the appropriate moment to keep the coil rotating in one direction. This is the basics of all electric motors.

Flemings left hand rule above describes the relationship between the main magnetic field. The current flowing in the coil and the direction of the movement or forceNow we can use electronics to do the switching instead of the commutator and brushes. These motors are called Brushless DC motors.

Larger motors require a stronger magnetic field and more electrical ,power to drive it faster and with more torque. Stronger magnetic fields are created by electromagnets. AC motors use induction from the stationary windings to create the second magnetic field in the rotor.

That induces currents in the rotor and these currents have their own magnetic field which interact ( repel and attract) with the main magnetic field to make the rotor rotate