If you want a phone with insane zoom capabilities,Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultrais your only choice. The Korean giant has been offering 10x optical and 100x digital zoom on its flagship phones since the Galaxy S21 Ultra in 2021. While many of thetop Android favorite phonesalso feature a periscope lens, they are limited to 5x optical zoom. However, theGalaxy S24 Ultramight lose its title of the telephoto king, as Samsung is seemingly set to ditch the 10x shooter from its 2024 flagship.
LeakerIce Universeclaims the Galaxy S24 Ultra will feature a 3x 10MP optical shooter and a 50MP 1/2.52" periscope camera offering 5x optical zoom with 0.7μm pixel size (viaAndroid Authority). Technically, the rumored 50MP 5x sensor is bigger than the 10MP periscope shooter that Samsung currently uses on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Coupled with a wider aperture, the 50MP camera should take in more light and capture more detailed photos, which could be useful in poor lighting conditions. Samsung can then rely on the additional details and its AI prowess to offer 10x zoom with almost no visible decline in quality.
Google already does something similar with thePixel 7 Pro, using its bigger 48MP 5x periscope shooter and Super Res Zoom to offer up to 30x digital zoom. While image quality takes a big hit at higher zoom levels, the phone can capture more than usable pictures between 6-15x zoom range.
However, it is hard to beat the usefulness of the dedicated 10x periscope camera, especially when recording videos. The long-range zoom enables you to capture photos with a new perspective from a distance. On the downside, image quality rapidly falls apart in challenging lighting conditions since the sensor size is so small.
If Samsung switches to a 5x periscope camera, it will be interesting to see whether the Galaxy S24 Ultra offers 100x Space Zoom. The feature has been heavily marketed since the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s debut, and it primarily relies on the 10x optical shooter to work.
There were previously rumors that theGalaxy S24 Ultra could switch to a 50MP 3x telephoto camerato deliver better image quality beyond 3x zoom, but apparently, that’s not going to happen. The Samsung Galaxy S24 lineup is at least four months away from its official release, so expect more conflicting rumors to keep popping up for the time being.
