Today, we will discuss the software ‘Megapixels’ vs ‘Hardware Megapixel’
First, you should know about the pixels. Pixels are the smallest unit that makes up an image. Pixels are made up of RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) subpixels, and the intensity of each subpixel will decide the final output colors.
So basically, more pixels will make a better-looking and well-defined image.
You may have heard of the term PPI (Pixels Per Inch), which defines the number of pixels that an image or video has per inch of its area.
There is a second important thing, and that is resolution, which gives an idea about an image. A higher-resolution image would have a higher number of pixels, whereas a lower number of pixels would make a lower-resolution image.
Normally, when we say megapixel of a camera, it means the number of photoreceptors on the camera. So higher the megapixels (physical), the better the image quality.
Now, see what happens with the software megapixels. Mobile camera takes (captures) the image and at the software level makes the image better by creating more details based on the existing image details. Different software algorithms are used for this purpose.
By this method, mobile phones create better-looking images with fewer physical megapixels.
On the other hand, we, as normal consumers, only see or have a perception that higher megapixels means a better camera, and we don’t investigate the reality behind it, whether it is physical megapixels or software-based.
That’s the reason why Apple’s camera is better than most of its Chinese competitors because the former one has better physical camera capabilities.