This may be a false alarm. The string they found - IMX179 - seems to be actually a Sony sensor part, which is in use on other phones also. (I.E. the Meizu MX3). It appears in the MEMS documentation which is ranked first in Google because their sensor package is based on the IMX179.

However, going by the sample shots from the MX3, it looks to be a good sensor - so hopefully it still has a good camera (my nexus 4 camera produces really bad results sometimes).