The first megapixel race started around 2004 (when camera phones first crossed the 1MP mark) and came to an end in 2013 or so with the arrival of the Nokia 808 PureView. Its 41MP camera would only be beaten in terms of resolution in 2018. During that period phones focused on other aspects of the camera rather than resolution. But now a second megapixel race is upon us.
The first one ended in part because common wisdom shifted from “more pixels is better” to “bigger pixels are better”. The arrival of computational photography also played a major role and allowed iPhones, Galaxys and Pixels…
