What you need to know
- Galaxy S24 Ultra may only have three ear cameras instead of four.
- The company may substitute the 3x telephoto lens for a continuous zoom lens.
- Sony’s Xperia 1 IV offers continuous zoom, and LG Innotek recently revealed a new sensor with similar capabilities.
These past two generations of Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra phones featured four rear camera sensors, but an early rumor of the flagship suggested that one camera could be omitted from the count.
According to leaker Ice Universe on WeiboHowever, the 3x telephoto sensor may not be present on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which could bring the camera setup down to three sensors. This would be a departure from the Ultra lineup, which has included a 3x telephoto camera in recent years as well as a 10x periscope lens, like what’s on the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Fear not, however, because it looks like Samsung may have other plans for the S24 Ultra’s zoom capabilities. Ice Universe says that rather than offering a 3x zoom, the zoom level may have been “integrated” into the periscope lens.
It’s not entirely clear what this means, but it likely indicates that Samsung is pulling Sony and may give the Galaxy S24 Ultra a continuous zoom lens, similar to the Xperia 1 IV. It offers continuous zoom from approximately 3.5x to 5.2x, and while it’s not a huge difference in zoom levels, it’s still impressive that this kind of optical zoom can be achieved without two separate camera sensors.
If Samsung goes this route, the company will likely choose to use the new sensor that LG Innotek launched late last year. This sensor can achieve continuous optical zoom between 4x and 9x, which is slightly less than the 3x to 10x jump Samsung currently offers with two separate sensors.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that Samsung could change the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s telephoto sensor, though details were and still are scarce. Regardless, we’re curious to see what zoom improvements Samsung can bring to its next premium flagship.
Other rumors for the S24 series include screens with a higher refresh rate and RAM bloating for the smaller models. However, it is still very early days, as the Galaxy S23 series was launched two months ago. For now, we can take everything with a pinch of salt, but we’ll likely hear more about Samsung’s plans for the S24 series as the year progresses.
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