New webcam module (2nd gen) on 12th gen Intel?

[Jeremy_Hoel]

When looking at the webcam modules I do see a module specifically for the 11/12th gen, but i was wondering if the newer camera with the newer sensor would work on the older laptops?

[fw13amd]

Following, potentially interested for my AMD 13 where auto white balance Is really bad

[Michael_Murphy]

Yes I have the same question. I downloaded the product images, did some analysis, and searched around.

TL;DR - I didn’t find any clear evidence of broken compatibility, but I also didn’t find enough information to confirm compatibility.

So here’s what I found:

• Webcam Module (2nd Gen) - Looks like this modules has 12 conductors, and the ribbon cable connection is 84-86ish pixels wide.
• Framework Laptop 13 Webcam Module (11th/12th Gen Intel) - This module has 12 conductors too. It’s about 84-85 pixels wide too.

Then I found this thread where the pinout of the module was described:

12-pin webcam cable pinouts

On the pinouts document, it says Note that the Webcam Module itself currently only uses a 12 pin connector using pins 19 through 30. just wanted to confirm that pins 1-12 on the 12-pin connector (from left to right on the webcam module) correspond to pins 19-30 on the IPEX connector? seems like an easy assumption, but I don’t want to wire something up wrong and fry something on my board

Going one step further, there is a GitHub repo with the same electrical details:

Framework-Laptop-13/Webcam at main · FrameworkComputer/Framework-Laptop-13

The GitHub repo only lists one Web Cam Pinout specification. So I think there are two possibilities:

• The new webcam is electrically compatible. They re-used the same pinout for all web cams .
• The new webcam is not electrically compatible, and they’ll update the repo soon (but all other web cams up to this point have electrical compatibility)

As for physical compatibility, it looks like we can draw similar conclusions:

• All Web Cams up to this point are using the same physical connector.
• The new web cam might be the same or different.

My gut impression is that the Webcam Module (2nd Gen) is both electrically compatible and uses the same Physical ribbon interface (but I don’t have a strong belief). Also I’m not sure if the overall assembly fits in place. So there are still many unknowns. But the good news is that I didn’t see any obvious deal-breakers.

[Michael_Murphy]

I found more evidence that this webcam module will work. Here’s a video from the framework YouTube channel where they talk about it:

Introducing the NEW 2024 Framework Laptop 13 (Intel Core Ultra Series 1)

The link takes you to the part of the video that talks about the web cam. The web cam is the “…same form factor as our previous web cam…”

So it seems more likely that:

• the web cam is electrically compatible
• it uses the same ribbon cable interface
• the assembly fits in place

So it’s probably going to work? I’m starting to think I’ll order one when I can.

[Jeremy_Hoel]

Me too. Worst case is, it doesn’t work and it’s a cheap experiment for the next tne i get.

[Destroya]

Webcam module should be backwards compatible.

[fw13amd]

When will it be available for purchase? I need to replace a broken webcam module (1st gen) and would love to get the 2nd gen if it’s not too long of a wait.

Thanks

[Destroya]

Sorry to hear that, it should be available with the rest of the marketplace items we have announced, later this year.