The MIPI Alliance has announced version 3.0 of its C-PHY specification, introducing a new 18-Wirestate mode with 32b9s encoding that increases performance per lane by approximately 30 to 35 percent. This update supports up to 75 Gbps over short channels, enabling new generations of high-resolution image sensor applications in smartphones, automotive systems, and machine vision. The ternary-based interface continues to deliver low electromagnetic interference (EMI) and low power consumption while reducing interconnect complexity.
The enhanced encoding in C-PHY v3.0 allows for either reduced symbol rates or fewer lanes for current use cases, or expanded throughput for advanced deployments. This capability is particularly suited to emerging applications like prosumer-level mobile video with HDR and smart ROI detection, real-time defect detection in industrial quality control, and ADAS platforms that require rapid object trajectory analysis under challenging lighting. The new version maintains backward compatibility and is included in the CSI-2 v4.1 interface specification, released in April 2024.
MIPI also reaffirmed its commitment to evolving its D-PHY standard, with version 3.6 targeting embedded clock support for camera applications in PC and client computing platforms. A future D-PHY v4.0 release will aim for even higher lane speeds beyond 9 Gbps and broader support for machine vision. These updates, together with recent signal integrity analysis for longer-channel use, illustrate the MIPI Alliance’s ongoing support for performance scaling beyond mobile into PCs, wearables, and IoT.
Key Points:
- C-PHY v3.0 introduces 32b9s encoding for 30–35% performance boost per lane
- Supports up to 75 Gbps over short channels for camera and display applications
- Enables next-gen applications in mobile, automotive, and industrial machine vision
- Backward compatible; included in MIPI CSI-2 v4.1
- MIPI D-PHY roadmap includes v3.6 for embedded clock and v4.0 for higher lane speeds
“The updated specification enables forward-looking applications like cinematographic-grade video on smartphones, machine vision quality-control systems and ADAS applications in automotive,” said Hezi Saar, chair of MIPI Alliance.
