This new smartphone sensor should make an appearance in some of the ultra-high end phones. The IMX318 is a type 1/2.6 stacked CMOS image sensor with 22.5 effective megapixels..

The new sensor comes with a built-in high-speed hybrid autofocus ("AF"), that can get the job done in 0.03 seconds.  It has a built-in 3-axis electronic image stabilization technology for video. All these features will be very welcome in next generation phones.

Sony plans to start shipping the new CMOS image sensor in May 2016 and it started sampling customers in February.

This pixel size of 1.0 µm (micrometres) in size is significant. With this, the image sensor achieves a compact, type 1/2.6 size suitable for inclusion into smartphones, while still having a high enough resolution of 22.5 effective megapixels – among the industry's best. .

The IMX318 is a replacement for the popular IMX230 model type 1/2.4 sensor which had a 1.12µm unit pixel size.

If you are into the numbers Sony's effective pixel count is 5488 (H) x 4112 (V) at 22.5 megapixels, image size has diagonal 6.858mm (Type 1/2.6) and Unit cell size 1.00µm (H) x 1.00µm (V).

The sensor supports 30 FPS at 4K (3840 x 2160), 120 FPS at 1080p and 240p at 720p. Sensitivity (standard value: F5.6) is 61 mV and Sensor saturation signal (minimum value) is 300 mV.

Now we can only wait to see which will be the first phone to use it..