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OmniVision has announced a new image sensor that reportedly really steps up the quality. The new 5 megapixel sensor can shoot in RAW with its back-illuminated CMOS design. It also has enhanced support for video, something your next iPhone would really like to have. Might I remind you that OmniVision is rumored to be supplying Apple’s next generation iPhone with a 5MP image sensor. Is this it?

You might not know a thing about RAW, but you likely know you want it. RAW can be thought of like film. It needs to be processed, but it’s the best quality you’re ever going to get out of that image. It’s not really usable straight out of the camera. But you can fix things like white balance later, instead of depending on the camera’s ability to get it right the first time.  And that’s good because your camera is usually wrong. I’m not sure that this is a feature you’d need on a phone, but hey, it can’t hurt.

A feature you might like to see in your next iPhone is support for 1080P at 30fps, or 720P at 60fps. And that 720P video not only benefits from the increased frame rate, but sensor actually gathers more light giving you higher quality per pixel.  The current iPhone doesn’t even come close to shooting 720P, so if this were to make its way into an iPhone, you’d have one seriously powerful mobile camcorder tool in your hands. Sadly, mass production isn’t supposed to start until July, so it isn’t likely to make it into the next hardware revision of the iPhone. Though Apple has been known to get advanced access to certain parts, and OmniVision is a supplier for iPhone image sensors.  And the rumors have OmniVision pegged as the producer of a 5MP sensor for the next iPhone.

Hmmm, did we just figure out Blue’s Clues?

Via [Electronista]