Metalenz buys PxE to replace the Bayer filter in phone cameras

What the acquisition means

Boston optics company Metalenz has acquired PxE Holographic Imaging, an Israeli startup with a new optical layer for smartphone cameras, according to WIRED. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

PxE's technology, called the HoloCoder, is a microscopic structure that sits directly on top of an image sensor. Instead of absorbing unwanted light, it diffracts it, bending light waves towards the sensor's pixels.

Why the Bayer filter wastes light

Nearly every phone camera today relies on the Bayer filter, a red, green and blue layer placed above the sensor that dates back to 1974. To make a red pixel, the filter blocks blue and green light, and WIRED reports that around 60 percent of incoming light is absorbed and wasted before it reaches the sensor.

Because the HoloCoder redirects light rather than discarding it, PxE claims the sensor can gather up to 2.5 times more light. That could improve low-light photography and dynamic range, helping in high-contrast scenes such as a selfie against a bright window.

Depth sensing in a single layer

The HoloCoder can also capture 3D depth information at the same time as the image. Most phones judge distance using secondary cameras, dedicated depth sensors or AI estimation, which powers features such as portrait mode.

Merging light sensing and depth sensing into one layer could simplify the hardware on the back of a phone, saving space and processing power. Metalenz says the technology could also help autonomous robots and vehicles, replacing bulky multi-sensor modules, though an independent expert is sceptical about that claim.

Metalenz background and Polar ID

Metalenz launched publicly in 2021 and commercialised metasurfaces, flat lenses with nanostructures that bend light and reduce the number of lens elements needed. The company says it has shipped more than 300 million metasurface optics to consumer devices.

Metalenz is also working with Qualcomm on Polar ID, a facial biometric authentication system for Android that captures polarisation data and is intended to rival Apple's Face ID. WIRED reports it is expected on consumer devices at the end of 2027.

When it could reach phones

PxE's technology is not on the market yet. Metalenz CEO Rob Devlin told WIRED that the company already has a supply chain, an image pipeline and machine learning algorithms in place, so the HoloCoder could fit into its platform. He said Metalenz has replicated the technology in the lab using its own metasurface optics.

Devlin expects the HoloCoder to appear in consumer electronics as early as late 2027 or early 2028. For now the two technologies will remain separate products, but they could eventually merge into a single system capturing colour, polarisation and depth from one sensor.

Arka Majumdar, a researcher at the University of Washington, told WIRED that losing light in the colour filter is a real problem, and noted that Samsung and the startup Eyeo are researching similar alternatives known as colour routers. However, he doubts the technology will transform robotics or self-driving cars, where space for cameras and lidar is plentiful and computing power, not light, is the bottleneck.