Smartphone cameras could capture 2.5 times more light

The Bayer filter wastes most light

Smartphone cameras use a Bayer filter created in 1974 to add color. It absorbs and wastes around 60 percent of light before reaching the sensor by blocking unwanted wavelengths.

Metalenz acquires PxE Holographic Imaging

Boston-based Metalenz has acquired Israeli startup PxE Holographic Imaging, which developed HoloCoder, a microscopic optical layer that diffracts light instead of absorbing it.

HoloCoder captures 2.5 times more light

By bending light waves toward sensor pixels instead of blocking them, HoloCoder can collect up to a claimed 2.5 times more light, dramatically improving low-light photography and dynamic range.

Depth sensing built into one layer

HoloCoder captures 3D depth information simultaneously with light sensing. Most smartphones use secondary cameras or AI to judge distance for portrait mode. Merging both functions saves space and processing power.

Metalenz has shipped 300 million optics

Metalenz launched publicly in 2021 and pioneered metasurfaces, flat-lens systems with nanostructures that bend light. The company has shipped more than 300 million metasurface optics to consumer devices.

Polar ID facial authentication coming 2027

Metalenz is working with Qualcomm to create Polar ID, a facial biometric authentication system for Android that captures polarization data to rival Apple's Face ID, expected on consumer devices at the end of 2027.

Software alone cannot recover lost light

Metalenz CEO Rob Devlin says Apple, Samsung and Google invest hundreds of millions in software to improve cameras, but once light is absorbed by filters, software cannot recover it.

“once information is lost when you're absorbing all of that light, you can't really buy it back, even if you're throwing all of the software into the world at it.”

HoloCoder expected late 2027 or early 2028

PxE's HoloCoder is not yet on the market. Devlin expects it could appear in consumer electronics as early as late 2027 or early 2028, with Metalenz providing supply chain and machine learning support.

Skepticism about autonomous vehicle impact

Arka Majumdar at the University of Washington agrees the technology improves smartphone photography but doubts it can revolutionize robotics and autonomous vehicles, which have space for multiple sensors and face computational bottlenecks instead.

“In fact, arguably, if you get better data, it's actually worse.”