As well as bringing you news on the latest smartphones and tablets we also like to inform readers about new component parts for devices. Today it’s the turn of Toshiba as the company has come up with a next-generation camera sensor for phones. The TK437 is a 13-megapixel CMOS color noise reduction sensor and test samples are due in December for companies to try out.

It’s likely to be several months before we see the first devices sporting the TK437 CMOS 1.12 micrometer with back side illumination, as well as on-circuit color noise reduction to lower pixel noise. The sensor will give enhanced image quality with Toshiba claiming that it will match the high-image quality of a 1.4 micrometer pixel image sensor. The TK437 CMOS sensor will fit an 8.5mm x 8.5mm camera module and will also deliver in low-light conditions.

Where BSI technology will improve sensitivity it’s not so hot on improving image quality so the new sensor has been developed with BSI and CNR (color noise reduction) integration to handle low-light sensitivity as well as SNR (signal to noise reduction). Toshiba explains that this results in a CMOS sensor that gives around 1.5 times higher SNR value than a 1.12 pixel image sensor without CNR.

The first samples of part number TK437 will be sent out in December with sample pricing starting at $20. It doesn’t seem too long ago that we were all impressed with 8-megapixel cameras on smartphones and pretty soon it looks as though it will be commonplace to see 13-megapixel cameras on our mobile devices.

We’re interested to hear what readers think about the new 13-megapixel camera sensor with integrated color noise reduction? We also wonder which smartphones next year might be the first to benefit from one of these 13-megapixel camera sensors? Let us know with your comments.