It’s not even been half a year since the Galaxy S24 Ultra launched, and we are already getting information about its successor. Before we delve deeper into the news about its successor, we first have to know the camera specs of the S24 Ultra.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a quad rear camera solution. A primary 200mp lens, a 10mp 3x telephoto lens, a 50mp 5x periscope lens, and a 12mp ultrawide lens. This versatile camera setup covers a variety of the most used zoom ranges.
As a key advantage over Google and Apple, the 3X telephoto is a great intermediate zoom solution since it captures some of the best human portrait photos. It also helps with product photos.
Galaxy S25 Ultra New Zoom Solution
There are rumors that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have a triple rear camera setup. This will be done by dropping the 3x telephoto lens. According to a tipster on X (formerly Twitter), Samsung is testing a Galaxy S25 Ultra prototype with only three rear cameras.
It is said the company is testing a new variable zoom camera. This new camera is said to be bigger than the current 50mp 1/2.52″ 5x lens. However, the exact sensor megapixels and size are unknown. This change will leave only one zoom camera on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
We have seen a similar technology in Sony flagships. The Sony Xperia 1 V possesses continuous optical zoom between 3.5x and 5.2x. This means the Sony has a continuous zoom without losing quality in those ranges.
However, the technology Samsung will be using is two fixed focal lengths. This means it will have the full quality only at those fixed ranges. The first focal length will be between 4x and 5x, and the second is 6x and 7x. This means you will have optical level zoom quality at those ranges but not anything between them.
What effect does this change have?
This change is a controversial one. Although you get optical zooms at multiple levels with a single lens, there is no optical zoom between the 1x and 3.9x ranges. This means any photo taken between those ranges will all be a digital zoom from the primary lens. This can result in poor-quality photos in substandard lighting conditions, like at night.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra currently does 2x lossless zoom with its primary camera. However, the result is often over-sharpened and unnatural. Dropping intermediate zoom will result in sub-par portrait photos. The variable zoom is between 4X and 5X or between 6X and 7X. Neither of these ranges covers between 1X and 4X.
Samsung is probably doing this to change the rear design of the phone and save some costs. It isn’t easy to engineer a quad-camera setup with variable zoom. However, losing an entire focal length is a significant step-down.
