This might seem counterintuitive as Xiaomi competes with Samsung in the smartphone market, but Samsung Electronics also has a thriving components business that sells best-in-class tech to OEMs and in doing so earns a lot of money.

It’s now delivering a powerful camera upgrade for Xiaomi devices by supplying the Chinese giant with high-performance nanoprism image sensors.

It still has a lot of catching up to do with Sony

This deal is also a way for Samsung to counter Sony’s dominance in the image sensor segment. Samsung’s offering, the ISOCELL JNP, delivers enhanced low-light performance by increasing per pixel light capture. This is the need of the hour as smartphones become thinner and camera modules get smaller.

Samsung reportedly started mass production of these image sensors in the second quarter of this year and has recently begun supplying the sensor in large volumes to Xiaomi. This is also the first time that Samsung has supplied the ISOCELL JNP sensor to a rival.

Xiaomi is already using this sensor in its newest Civi 5 Pro smartphone that’s aimed at photography enthusiasts who want an elevated experience on their phones. This deal, and subsequent adoption of the sensor by other OEMs, may help Samsung increase its share in the image sensor segment.

It’s currently dominated by Sony at 51.6% as of 2024, based on numbers from market research firm Omdia, while Samsung lags far behind in second place with a 15.4% market share. Samsung is also expected to target North American tech companies for mobile sensor supply by next year.

SAM MOBILE