The 808 PureView, the phone with Nokia’s first iteration of the camera technology, has a 41-megapixel sensor but its camera features truly shine when you output images in eight-, five-, or three-megapixel sizes, taking advantage of pixel oversampling. This technology combines multiple pixels into a single one to improve on overall image quality.

Turns out that Apple is reportedly using a similar oversampling technology on its iPhone 5, given though that everything happens automatically and only in low light conditions. Though equipped with an eight-megapixel camera, the iPhone 5 might output fourtwo-megapixel-ish low light images: when detecting poor lighting conditions four pixels are being combined in a single one in order to both increase sensitivity and reduce noise typically present in such photos. In addition to that there’s also a noise reduction algorithm in place that should further improve pictures taken in poorly lit conditions.

We’ll take a close look at the camera capabilities of the iPhone 5 in our upcoming review and makes sure to take a look at its camera while comparing it to others on the market.

Update: We were so far unable to replicate the above claim. While taking a low-light, no-flash picture with our iPhone 5, the resulting image was one of 2448×3264 pixels, which is eight-megapixels.

Source: SlashGear