14 DAY TRIAL // As the leading company in the smartphone market, Samsung is hard at work to create new technologies that would give its devices the lead in the fight against rival products from Apple, Huawei, Google, and others.
And one way to do this is taking over companies that invented innovative technologies, as it’s the case of an Israeli firm called Corephotonics.
While this name might not say much at first glance, this is the company that invented the periscope smartphone camera and which helped Oppo make the headlines with a revolutionary device in this regard.
Presented at MWC in 2017, Oppo’s camera implementation offered support for 5x lossless zoom, and the capabilities were supposed to be improved with a 2019 upgrade to no less than 10x zoom.
It looks like all these efforts caught Samsung’s attention, so the South Korean is now trying to purchase the Israeli company for a maximum of $160 million, according to local media.
Deal to include rich patent portfolio
Details regarding the current stage of the talks haven’t been provided, but it’s believed that Samsung is insisting for the deal to go through, not only for its technology, but also for the rich portfolio of patents that it owns.
In a company description on its website, Corephotonics says it owns some 150 patents covering camera technology, and buying the company would give Samsung a major advantage in the race against its rivals.
Samsung is aggressively investing in camera technology, and this year’s Galaxy S10 will come with a triple-lens configuration on the back.
However, the optical zoom capabilities have until now been limited due to the space inside the phone, so the new periscope technology can help deal with this drawback.
Time will tell if Samsung manages to buy Corephotonics, but given the opportunities that such a deal would create for the South Korean company, expect an announcement very soon.