As the Galaxy S25 Ultra prepares to come out of the woods, during Samsung’s first Galaxy Unpacked of 2025 this Wednesday, January 22, information already details an important element of the future Galaxy S26 Ultra, scheduled for early 2026.
This comes from the leaker Digital Chat Station, operating on Weibo, and whose reliability is no longer in doubt. He suggests that Samsung is in the process of “to evaluate a solution based on a periscope telephoto lens with a 200 megapixel sensor and 1/1.5 inch type”.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
Clearly, these technical terms mean that Samsung would like to go all out on its telephoto lens in the next models, probably starting with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Currently, its Galaxy S24 Ultra has a telephoto lens with a 50-megapixel sensor and a 1/2.52-inch type size. Rumor has it that the Galaxy S25 Ultra will roughly follow this technical sheet, without much change.
A greater zoom factor
However, if Digital Chat Station is true, the telephoto lens of the S26 Ultra would therefore be a major development. The two points mentioned could increase its capabilities tenfold. To begin with, the number of megapixels, multiplied by four, would have the main advantage of allowing a so-called digital zoom “lossless” much further than the current X10.
The current telephoto lens (and probably that of the S25 Ultra) has a focal length of 111mm, which gives it an equivalent zoom factor of X5. By zooming up to X10, therefore multiplying this factor by two, we obtain a 12 megapixel photo, said to be lossless. Tomorrow, with a 200 megapixel sensor, we can imagine, at a minimum, a zoom of up to x20 without loss.
More light captured
As for the size of the sensor, the famous 1/1.5 inch, again, this could be useful in many ways. As a reminder, the smaller the number to the right of the slash, the closer the sensor is to 1 inch, the larger it is. However, a larger sensor means more light captured. This not only results in brighter shots in low light, but also an increased capture speed, less unwanted blur too, since it takes less time for the camera to capture a given amount of light.
Additionally, a larger sensor size allows for larger subpixels as well. This is useful when multiplying them. For example, going from 50 megapixels to 200 megapixels, the sub-pixels will be four times smaller, which can lead to poorer performance in low light. By increasing the size of the sensor, Samsung would undoubtedly want to protect itself from this inconvenience.
The integration of ALoP?
Recently, the Korean firm communicated on a new telephoto lens integration technology, called ALoP. The idea is to place all the lenses vertically, rather than lengthwise, which gives the name to the “All Lenses on Prism” technology.
-According to Korean engineers, this makes it possible to obtain a wider opening, but also to reduce the size of the module. We can therefore imagine that this space saved would allow the integration of a larger sensor? This remains to be demonstrated, but it is an interesting avenue.
Should we wait for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra?
However, should we wait for the Galaxy S26 Ultra and skip its turn this year? It all depends on your situation. If your current smartphone can quietly wait another year, we will always write that the best thing to do is to wait.
Galaxy S24 Ultra 256 GB at the best price Base price: €1,469
See more offers
Whether the rumor about a future technology is true or not, you have nothing to lose by waiting, especially given the huge discount taking place on certain devices. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, for example, released at a price of 1,469 euros, costs for example today 909 euros on Amazon.
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