Qualcomm wants to aid dual-cameras in smartphones with Clear Sight technology

Dual-cameras in smartphones are becoming a trend and while this arrangement has been around for more than five years, OEMs are finally utilizing the potential of using two lenses. Even Apple launched the iPhone 7 Plus with a dual-lens camera. Smartphone chip maker Qualcomm wants to keep the new trend going and has announced its in-house dual camera processing technology called Clear Sight. This tech features two cameras, each having its own lens and image sensor. Both the lenses on these cameras have the same focal length, however the image sensor on both the cameras are different. One of the sensors can capture colour while the other can only capture in black in white. This is the same mechanism as the human eye where cones and rods come into play. While cones can capture colour details they require good amount of light. On the other hand rods are good at capturing light in low light conditions. Utilising the same concept, Qualcomm has used a colour sensor and black and white sensors which are identical, except the black and white sensor cannot capture colour . However the black and white sensor’s ability to capture light increases three times. According to the company, when combined, the images offer better colours, better contrast and colour saturation as well as improved low light images. The new tech will be supported on the Snapdragon 820 and 821 however none of the OEMs have utilised the Clear Sight tech as of yet. The only handset in the market that comes close to this technology is the Huawei P9 .