June 25 - 2:35pm EDT   OmniVision on Thursday added new camera sensors that could have significance for future smartphones, including the iPhone. The OV5650 can handle 5-megapixel still shooting but is more impressive in video capture, the company says: it can record full 1080p video at 30 frames per second or scale back to 720p in exchange for 60 frames per second. It's also backlit and is roughly 40 percent better in low light than a front-lit system while simultaneously producing a twice as clean signal-to-noise ratio. [full story]

April 14 - 8:00am EDT   The companies responsible for manufacturing parts in the next major iPhone release have potentially been named by industry contacts of DigiTimes that also predict ship dates and numbers. The Taiwan-area site reinforces its previous claim that OmniVision is making a 3.2-megapixel sensor for the Apple handset's camera and now says that Largan Precision is making the rest of the imaging unit. Infineon is continuing to provide the cellular baseband (likely upgraded to 7.2Mbps 3G) as well as the GPS chipset. [full story]

April 8 - 7:40am EDT   The various components that will go into the 2009 iPhone are reportedly being shipped for assembly. The Taiwan-area newspaper Commercial Times claims that multiple suppliers are sending their parts off for the widely assumed June launch and that shipments of iPhones themselves could range between 2-3 million in the quarter following Apple's launch; it's implied that some of these may include old models being cleared out. [full story]

April 3 - 9:30am EDT   The next iPhone should indeed have a 3.2-megapixel camera, according to a Taiwanese industry report. Market sources claim that OmniVision has received orders from Apple for 3.2-megapixel CMOS sensors, with the specific intent of use in a new iPhone line. Aptina and STMicroelectronics are also said to have been in competition to produce the sensors. [full story]

May 27 - 9:35am EDT   Omnivision today said it has developed a new camera sensor that should radically improve the quality of photography from cellphones. A variant of the company's OmniBSI chip technology allows the company to fill each individual pixel on the sensor with much more light than previously possible by literally flipping the sensor upside down and lighting its back. In doing so, the company says it can pack a much more dense sensor into the same space as an equivalent model. An eight-megapixel sensor can already fit in the space occupied by a three-megapixel sensor today, the company says. [full story]