Samsung sets to further push smartphone photography with the 108MP ISOCELL Bright HMX-- an image sensor the company claims is the first to go beyond 100 million pixels, a resolution equivalent ot a high-end DSLR camera.

Developed in collaboration with Xiaomi, the sensor promises "extremely sharp photographs rich in detail," even in extreme lighting conditions. It comes in a large 1/1.33-inch size, allowing it to absorb more light in low-lit settings, while pixel-merging Tetracell technology allows the sensor to imitate big-pixel sensor. The result, Samsung says, is brighter 27MP images.

A Smart-ISO mechanism sets the level of amplifier gains according to illumination levels, and switches to a low ISO in case of bright conditions and to high ISO in darker settings to reduce noise. The sensor also supports video recording at resolutions up to 60K (6016 x 3384) at 30fps.

A leak appears to confirm the lack of a 3.5mm jack in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10-- instead, according to SamMobile, the upcoming flagship makes use of a 3.5mm to USB-C dongle.

As typical with Note accessories the dongle comes in a white colour, and will be reportedly included in the box (and as such will note be available as a separate purchase). SamMobile adds the Galaxy Note 10 package will also feature a pair of Galaxy Buds, just like the Galaxy S10 series does. Another potential audio-related accessory is a pair of USB-C earphones, possibly complete with noise cancellation support and AKG-tuned sound.

Motorola announces an addition to the budget-friendly Moto E smartphone series-- the E6, a 5.5-inch handset featuring a fairly basic design, if one offering a "water repellent" coating as well as Android Pie capabilities.

The E6 is smaller than last year's 5.7-inch E5, if with the same 1440 x 720 resolution, making the IPS LCD panel appear slightly sharper. The battery also sees a downgrade, being 3000mAh instead of 4000mAh, but it is actually removable. The processor is improved, being a Snapdragon 435 chip promising a 50% improvement over the Snapdragon 427 inside the E5, while RAM and storage remain identical at 2 and 16GB respectively.

Samsung starts mass production of what it says is the first 12Gb LPDDR5 mobile DRAM in the industry. Aimed at the premium smartphones of the future, the memory is optimised to enable 5G and AI features.

The announcement comes all of 5 months after Samsung started mass producing 12GB LPDDR4X memory, and just a month before it starts mass producing 12GB LPDDR5 packages combining eight of the 12Gb chips, in line with growing demand for higher performance and capacity from premium smartphone makers.