Unlike the starting variants, the Ultra option is so far the only model from Samsung’s recent flagship releases to feature four rear cameras. These consist of a primary wide shooter, along with an ultra-wide lens as well as two telephoto cameras with 3x and 10x optical zooming capabilities respectively This may change for next year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, as rumours are suggesting that it will be the first iteration of the top-end variant to feature only three rear cameras.
According to reliable leakster Ice Universe via Weibo, Samsung may remove the 3x telephoto altogether and will compensate for it by introducing a new folded telephoto unit. This will essentially merge the two previous telephotos together, allowing for 3x to 10x variable zooming. This information is backed by another tipster known as Revegnus (aka Tech_Reve) on Twitter, who added that the Galaxy S24 Ultra may still utilise the brand’s ISOCELL GN3 mobile image sensor.
The shift to variable telephoto lenses is indeed a step forward for Samsung, and some might say that it is a long time coming. In fact, the technology isn’t entirely new, as it first debuted on the Xperia 1 III and Xperia 5 III in 2021. However, unlike the rumoured system on the alleged Galaxy S24 Ultra, the telephoto on Sony’s handhelds could only hit up to 5x optically instead of 10x.
Nevertheless, this would finally allow the South Korean tech giant’s top-end flagship to provide users with seamless transitions in zooming rather than switching between lenses, as well as producing consistent image quality as it only relies on a single sensor – through optical zooms, at least. In addition, removing one camera would further standardise all three models within the series, on top of giving more space for the brand to include newer internal hardware (such as cooling systems and so on) to the top-end variant.
https://twitter.com/Tech_Reve/status/1646753660922363905?s=20
Speaking of stuff under the hood, Revegnus also claims that next year’s Galaxy S24 series would feature either the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, or Samsung’s own Exynos 2400 next-gen SoC. Both of which are apparently built on a 4nm process, though it is unclear whether the former will be a custom-tuned “For Galaxy” variant or otherwise. As for the latter, it is possible that the brand would take another shot at including its first-party chipset to its newer flagships, despite the negative reception of its past iterations by fans and critics alike.
Interestingly, the same tipster continued on to reveal the key specifications for the Galaxy S25 series that’s supposedly expected to come out in another two years. Apparently, the line-up will be equipped with 3nm Exynos 2500 or Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipsets, as well as a new 200 MP sensor “with lots of new technology” – presumably exclusive to the Ultra variant.
As usual, the information provided by either sources are unofficial, so remember to take them with a pinch of salt. Unfortunately, we still have a long time to go before any of these rumours can be proven accurate, as Samsung will only detail its next generation flagship smartphones close to their debut, which is likely going to happen by early 2024.
(Source: Ice Universe [1] [2] / Revegnus)
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