A new Galaxy S20 report just put a damper on those 10x optical zoom rumors

Just a couple of days ago, we got wind of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra with its mad zoom capabilities. It was rumored that the phone will feature 10x optical zoom. However, a new report now has us second guessing the previous leak.

According to The Elec (via Sammobile), Samsung is sourcing prisms for 5x optical zoom camera modules. Optrontech — a South Korean manufacturer of optical parts — has apparently confirmed that it has supplied the said prisms to Samsung for the Galaxy S20 series.

Contradictory to previous rumors, The Elec does not mention 10x optical zoom at all. One reason for this could be that Samsung has reserved 10x optical zoom only for the S20 Ultra. There’s also a chance that the 5x optical zoom module is meant for the regular Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus.

Then again, It’s entirely possible that Samsung will cap optical zoom to 5x in all three phones. If so, HUAWEI’s rumored P40 series could be the first to feature 10x optical zoom. However, we highly doubt Samsung will miss an opportunity to best HUAWEI in the camera department.

What the rumors say so far

Based on what we know so far, the Galaxy S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra will have varying camera configurations. Samsung’s ultra high-res 108MP camera is also said to be confined to the S20 Ultra. So it’s possible Samsung is sourcing prisms for the 10x optical zoom module from somewhere else and we just don’t know about it yet.

All we can do for now is speculate on the rumors that are out there. Even if the Galaxy S20 phones get 5x optical zoom, it’s still a significant jump over the current 2x zoom module used in the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 phones.

We’ll update you as and when we know more about the new Samsung flagships.