South Korean tech blog TheElec has reported that Samsung might discontinue providing the TOF (Time of Flight) sensor in its upcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone series. The company has already done it with the recently launched Galaxy Note 20 without the TOF (Time of Flight) sensor.
Time of Flight (TOF) is a feature that propels augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) contents in a 5G environment, as defined by Gizmochina. Moreover, Samsung uses indirect ToF technology which is less powerful than the direct ToF technology used by Apple in their iPhones. Samsung has to drop the idea of discontinuing the feature because Apple’s direct TOF technology is developed by Sony and Apple has an exclusive deal with the later. So it is clear that Samsung can not get the technology from Sony.
Samsung has not totally abandoned the idea of implementing this feature in its future devices. The company’s System LSI business is said to be developing a direct ToF module. This will e similar to Apple’s technology and might again continue to feature in the upcoming Samsung devices.
Samsung will look into the market and will thoroughly study the market and the demand surrounding this feature. It will also study how Apple is implementing this technology in its future devices and thus by studying the market response Samsung will also make its comeback with TOF.
