12MP Samsung Camera Phone on the Way?

Rumor has Samsung ready to push out a 12-megapixel camera in a handset, but the photo world is ready to call its bluff on hyped-up megapixel marketing.

If you thought the 8-megapixel image sensors finding their way into cameras like the Samsung M8800 and LG KC780 were absurd, just wait for what’s next. According to the Korean paper Money Today, Samsung will take camera phone extremes to yet another level with a 12-megapixel shooter to be unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress.

Though the company hasn’t made any announcement, the expectation has already made serious photographers criticize the brand for packing more and more megapixels into cell phone cameras without actually improving picture quality. Typically, cameras built with high-resolution sensors and tiny optics suffer from copious digital noise and crippled low-light performance.

But without full specs from the company, it’s impossible to know whether Samsung has bulked up a phone with improved lenses and other optical parts to complement the high-res sensor. Motorola collaborated with Kodak in 2008 to pull a similar trick with the lower-resolution MotoZINE ZN5, which managed to largely satisfy the photo world and was among the best camera phones Digital Trends has ever reviewed.

The rumored camera will most likely be unveiled in two weeks, when the Mobile World Congress commences on Feb. 16.