It has been a day since Apple launched its iPhone 17 series, and while the buzz has been about the new models, the rumor mill cannot seem to stop churning about Samsung's upcoming flagship series. Many speculations have given away quite a few details on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and what upgrades it would be bringing about. A fresh new leak has emerged that might be a let-down for many of the users, and that is the downgrade of the Zoom camera, which might pose some potential low-light challenges.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra leak hints at a possible downgrade in the 3x zoom camera
While Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra has been making waves long before its launch for the upcoming upgrades to its primary and telephoto camera lenses, it seems like not everything is moving forward, as a new leak by renowned tipster Ice Universe claims that the 3x zoom camera, which has remained a huge selling point for the model, might be seeing an unexpected downgrade.
While earlier reports have suggested that Samsung would be upgrading the S26 Ultra's 3x telephoto zoom with a 12MP sensor meant to bring improvements in close-up pictures and offer better quality in low-light conditions, the recent leak suggests that the tech giant would not be using the full 12MP sensor and would be bringing it down to 10MP. The telephoto zoom camera would now be featuring an f/2.4 aperture, a 1/3.94-inch sensor, and a 1.0μm pixel size.
While the downgrade, compared to the Galaxy S25 Ultra's telephoto setup, is not a major drop, it still could end up compromising the image quality, especially when challenging low-light conditions are present and more detailed pictures are needed. This news is doing the rounds, especially given how the Ultra model is best known for its versatility and camera quality, and going down this lane might disappoint many camera enthusiasts.
The camera system would, however, see some massive improvements otherwise, as the main 200MP camera would feature a wider f/1.4 aperture, offering almost 50 percent more light. Similarly, the 50MP 5x zoom lens is also expected to have an f/2.9 aperture, offering 38 percent more light capture. So if we see these improvements, the Galaxy S26 Ultra would still be a strong smartphone photography contender and could deliver better details and good low-light shots. The leak, however, serves as a reminder that not all the speculations tend to be about improvements, but we can also mention some of the trade-offs that we might see.
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