Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra is expected to include some controversial changes over the current Galaxy … [+]
Recent Samsung leaks are offering contradictory information on next year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra camera upgrade, specifically in terms of how its long-range zoom function will work, as well as some big quality improvements.
A recent story posted by the respected South Korean industry publication The Elec claims that the Galaxy S24 Ultra rear camera will feature a quad-lens setup with a 200-megapixel wide-angle camera, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, a 50-megapixel 5x telephoto camera and a 10-megapixel 10x telephoto camera.
While this configuration will be familiar to owners of the current Galaxy S23 Ultra, the details will come as a surprise to those who have been following recent speculation that the 10x telephoto camera would be removed from the Galaxy S24 Ultra in favor of a 5x model.
Furthermore, the configuration proposed by The Elec would see the 3x telephoto lens, currently found on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, “upgraded” to a 5x version—a move that could result in an improvement in medium to-long-range zoom quality, but that would leave Samsung with a sizeable “hole” to fill between 1x and 5x zoom, where quality would likely see a dip.
Indeed, more recent info from the well-known leaker Tech Reve refutes the findings of The Elec’s report, stating that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will instead drop the 10x telephoto lens from the Galaxy S23 Ultra in favor of a new 5x option while retaining a 3x telephoto lens. This 3x/5x setup is what we had come to expect following earlier leaks from tipsters such as Ice Universe who predicted this configuration back in September.
Keeping the 3x telephoto lens avoids a large and troublesome gap between 1x and 5x zoom, but dropping the 10x optical zoom option will remove a stand-out feature for which the Galaxy S Ultra range has become known.
Samsung is obviously aware of this and I suspect will use alternative methods to deliver a long-range zoom camera comparable to previous Galaxy S Ultra generations. The highest magnification levels are delivered using a combination of optical and digital zoom techniques combined with AI-based processing, a feature Samsung called “Hybrid Zoom”.
Some clues on how Samsung might improve quality over the Galaxy S23 Ultra come from tipster Ahmed Qwaider, who reveals that next year’s flagship will enable 8K video at 5x Zoom, portrait zoom at 5x, an improved optical stabilization and improved object detection on both front and rear cameras. He also claims that the “pixel size is larger” in 50 megapixels, although it’s not clear exactly what comparison is being made here.
Ultimately, the quality of the images is what matters rather than how Samsung processes pixels behind the scenes. However, we can expect the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera results to come under very close scrutiny when it launches early next year.
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