ams OSRAM Unveils Imaging-to-Display Sensing Solution for Smartphones, Redefining the Next Generation of Mobile Visual Experience

ams OSRAM today unveiled its imaging-to-display sensing solution for smartphones at the 2026 China International Optoelectronic Exposition (CIOE 2026). The solution integrates ams OSRAM's latest-generation sensing technologies to help smartphones achieve greater accuracy, stability, and precision in ambient light detection, image capture, and spatial sensing. By connecting the sensing technologies across the imaging-to-display pipeline, it helps mobile devices deliver a visual experience that is true to life.

This newly launched solution integrates an ams OSRAM spectral color sensor, a multi-channel spectral sensor for ambient light spectrum and flicker detection, and a direct time-of-flight (dToF) sensor. ams OSRAM developed the solution in partnership with vivo to bring it to market. This marks the first time front-facing under-display optical sensing and rear-facing spatial sensing have been combined, creating an integrated sensing chain that spans ambient light detection, image capture, and spatial understanding. This opens up new application scenarios and possibilities for innovation in optical sensing for mobile devices.
 

ams OSRAM's imaging-to-display sensing solution for smartphones integrates ams OSRAM’s latest-generation sensing technologies:

• Behind-OLED Spectral Color Sensor: Designed by ams OSRAM for spectral and color sensing behind OLED displays, this sensor supports five-channel spectral or RGB color sensing. Its high sensitivity and high signal-to-noise ratio let it work with ultra-low-transmittance OLED displays and accurately measure ambient light even in low-light conditions, enabling fine-grained control over screen brightness, color temperature, and color management. The sensor also offers infrared suppression, proximity detection, and excellent environmental adaptability, allowing smartphones to dynamically optimize display performance as ambient light changes and deliver a more natural, comfortable, and true-to-life visual experience on bezel-less devices.
• Multi-Channel Spectral Sensor for Ambient Light Spectrum and Flicker Detection: ams OSRAM's newly launched multi-channel spectral sensor combines high-precision color and spectral sensing, light-source identification, and flicker detection. The eight-channel version, designed for smartphone rear cameras, emulates human color perception and provides precise ambient light data for automatic white balancing, automatic exposure, and anti-flicker processing. With high sensitivity, independent channel gain, and continuous HDR flicker measurement, it can rapidly identify light sources and detect flicker under complex lighting, low-light, and high-dynamic-range conditions, improving color reproduction and stability in photos and videos. The chip also incorporates optical calibration data to compensate for device-to-device variation and simplify calibration on smartphone production lines.
• Direct Time-of-Flight (dToF) Sensor TMF8829: ams OSRAM's latest-generation 48×32 multi-zone dToF depth sensor is being used in a smartphone for the first time. With an 80° diagonal field of view and support for multiple zone configurations, it provides multi-zone depth information in real time, enabling accurate detection of subject distance and spatial position. Its full factory calibration and compact design improve autofocus and moving-subject tracking performance, and support applications such as portrait depth-of-field segmentation, 3D reconstruction, AR ranging, and spatial scanning, helping smartphones evolve from simply “seeing” images to “understanding” space.

With this technology solution, smartphone manufacturers can deliver a consistent visual experience that remains unaffected by changing ambient light conditions. Whether users are outdoors in bright sunlight, indoors under complex lighting, or in low-light conditions at night, they can enjoy comfortable, natural-looking displays as well as consistent, true-to-life photo and video capture.

As the smartphone experience becomes increasingly sensing-driven, optical sensing is emerging as a critical enabler for advances in both display and imaging. Enhancing the visual experience of smartphones requires more than sophisticated algorithms and post-processing; it also depends on powerful front-end capabilities for ambient sensing, spectral understanding, and spatial awareness. Accordingly, optical sensing is evolving beyond basic ambient-light detection to capture a much broader range of information, including ambient spectrum, color temperature, illuminance, light-source flicker, and spatial depth. This enables smartphones to move from simply “seeing” their surroundings to “understanding” light and space, laying the sensing foundation for the next generation of display and imaging experiences.
 

Working with Partners to Shape the Next Generation of Mobile Visual Experience
At this year's CIOE, ams OSRAM partnered with vivo to showcase smartphone demo featuring high-precision VUS multispectral sensor, using ams OSRAM's integrated imaging and display technology solutions. The demonstrations highlighted three key application areas: display brightness optimization, image enhancement under complex lighting and background conditions, and real-time depth sensing.

Through side-by-side comparisons and interactive experiences, visitors were able to directly observe the benefits of more natural and comfortable screen display under varying ambient lighting conditions, more stable and realistic imaging performance in challenging lighting and flicker-prone environments and enhanced autofocus and spatial perception enabled by depth information. Together, these three technologies create a seamless end-to-end chain from ambient light sensing and image capture to spatial understanding and screen rendering, vividly illustrating the next-generation smartphone visual experience of "what you see is what you get."

As a leading global smartphone brand, vivo has long focused on mobile imaging and display experience, building deep expertise in understanding end-user needs, integrating system-level technologies, and tuning the overall device experience. Drawing on vivo's strengths in defining smartphone technology and shaping user experience, ams OSRAM and vivo worked together during the development of this solution to establish an end-to-end technology chain spanning ambient light sensing, image capture, spatial understanding, and display rendering. Together, the two companies are helping transfer advanced sensing capabilities at the component level into user-visible experiences on smartphones.

The devices on display not only offer a hands-on demonstration of the value of ams OSRAM's imaging-to-display sensing solution but also reflect vivo's forward-looking vision and ongoing exploration of the next generation of smartphone visual experience, opening up further possibilities for the integrated evolution of display, imaging, and spatial sensing.

Looking ahead, as smartphones continue to evolve in imaging, display, AI, and spatial computing, optical sensing will become an increasingly important force driving both device-level experience upgrades and industry-wide technological progress. ams OSRAM will continue to leverage its technological strengths in optics, sensing, and system integration to drive innovation and real-world application of smartphone display and imaging technologies. 

With a continued commitment to open collaboration, the company will further strengthen its partnerships with device manufacturers and ecosystem partners worldwide, working together to advance cutting-edge technologies, unlock new application opportunities, and create lasting value for the industry and consumers.