Xiaomi Corp.will turn to Samsung for a future line of its mainstream Redmi smartphones with an 64-megapixel camera.

This is bad news for Sony, which was Xiaomi's main supplier of the sensors that power its digital cameras.

Xiaomi will collaborate with Samsung on developing next-generation camera technology, Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin told reporters in Beijing.

Xiaomi and its partner are working on technology capable of capturing images as large as 108 megapixels, Lin told a news briefing. This is typically done by using software to stitch together multiple exposures, and there’s as yet no mobile camera sensor with such an extreme resolution. The technology will be deployed across Xiaomi phones “soon enough,” Lin added.

The deal will help Samsung -- whose smartphone sales have all but evaporated in China -- to tap the world’s biggest mobile arena by selling components instead of devices.

Current top-tier Xiaomi devices, such as the Mix 3 and Mi 9, are equipped with multiple cameras with up to 48 megapixels of resolution, serviced by Sony technology.