China’s Sunny Optical has been chosen as the lead developer for the main camera on the Galaxy A23 5G by Samsung, TheElec has learned.
Galaxy A23 will, on its rear, pack a 50MP OIS wide angle camera, 5MP ultra-wide angle camera, 2MP macro camera and 2MP bokeh camera. It will have an 8MP camera on the front for selfies.
4G LTE and 5G models of phone have the same spec in cameras. The 4G LTE model will launch during the first quarter this year while the 5G model will launch during the second half.
Sunny Optical will be the lead developer of the 50MP OIS wide angle camera, a huge boon for the firm that will see its share in Samsung’s supply chain increase.
Lead developers take part from the start of the development of a smartphone. They also supply components for the initial stock of the phone. They usually enjoy more orders and higher margins compared to secondary suppliers.
Sunny Optical is already a large supplier of lenses to Samsung with double-digit share in the supply chain.
But its supply of camera modules to the South Korean tech giant has been relatively much lower. The Chinese company had been a secondary camera supplier for models such as the Galaxy S series.
South Korean rival Partron had been the lead developer of the main camera on Galaxy A23 4G LTE.
People familiar with the matter said this meant that it was highly likely that Partron would have been chosen as the lead developer for the main camera of Galaxy A23 5G as well.
But it ultimately lost to Sunny Optical, which likely offers a more competitive price to Samsung.
Meanwhile, Samsung is procuring 50MP image sensors from SK Hynix, a move that is seen as its effort to lower cost.
Sunny Optical will receive the sensors from SK Hynix, then supply the completed camera module to Samsung.
Samsung is aiming to ship 17.1 million units of the 4G LTE version and 12.6 million units of the 5G version.
