Digital camera manufacturers who last year witnessed significant declines in digital camera sales could face further problems as consumers use a new generation of Smartphones that include brand new camera technology called “quantum dots” that significantly improves the qualityto the point that Apple could soon have a 12 megapixel iPhone. Jess Lee, the chief executive of InVisage a US Company who has created the new technology  claims that within two years mobile phone companies would be able to offer cameras that work about four times better than today’s cameras, particularly in low light.

The company which as has spent more than three years developing the proprietary film that coats the image sensors in a mobile phone say that they can now use silicon to capture light, which is then processed to create a picture. Companies making these sensors have run into problems as they keep shrinking and tweaking the innards of the devices so that they can absorb more light.

According to the New York Times, the limitations of cameras based on this technology often appear when people try to take photos in low light, resulting in a blurry image.

“With the current techniques, you might have technology that’s 10 percent better two years from now,” Mr. Lee said. “The big guys have hit a brick wall, and it will only get harder and more expensive for them to fight it.”

Rather than trying to refine the silicon technology, InVisage turned to quantum dots to build what it calls Quantum Film, a layer of semiconductor material that gathers light better than silicon, Mr. Lee said.

Rather than licensing the film to companies like Nokia, Panasonic, Sony, Toshiba or Apple, InVisage plans to make its own sensors and sell them directly to mobile phone companies.

“We expect to start production 18 months from now,” Mr. Lee said.

With such technology, the current three-megapixel camera found in the Apple iPhone could be turned into a 12-megapixel camera that works better in varying light conditions, Mr. Lee said.