We're starting to see 48MP smartphone cameras be a regular thing, but Samsung is one-upping that with a new camera sensor that offers more than double the megapixels.

Samsung today announced a 108MP image sensor for smartphones, the first in the industry to go beyond 100MP. Samsung worked with Xiaomi to create the new sensor, which is called the ISOCELL Bright HMX.

One feature of the ISOCELL Bright HMX is its 1/1.33-inch size, allowing it to gather more light than smaller sensors in low-light situations. It also uses Tetracell tech to merge pixels and produce brighter 27MP photos. The Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX uses a feature called Smart-ISO to switch to a low ISO in brighter settings to get better pixel saturation and more vivid photos, while moving to a high ISO in darker situations to help reduce noise.

On the video side, the ISOCELL Bright HMX supports video capture at up to 6K (6016x3384) at 30 frames per second.

Samsung says that the ISOCELL Bright HMX will begin mass production later this month.

A 108MP smartphone camera sensor may sound like way more than necessary, but it's good to see mobile cameras continue to improve like this. As smartphones become more powerful, many folks use them as their only camera, and so it's important that they continue to get better at taking photos.