Galaxy S27 and S27 Plus could finally get a meaningful zoom camera upgrade

Samsung’s regular Galaxy S phones haven’t exactly been spoiled with telephoto camera upgrades in recent generations. That could finally change with the next series, as a new leak suggests the Galaxy S27 and S27 Plus may inherit the same 3x telephoto system as the upcoming Galaxy S27 Pro.

As spotted by Digital Trends, tipster @phonefuturist claims in an X post that Samsung is testing the Galaxy S27 and S27 Plus with the same 3x telephoto setup as the Pro model. The leak doesn’t provide the telephoto sensor specs, but an earlier ETNews report tipped the S27 Pro for a 12MP 3x telephoto camera. If that’s the same system the tipster is referring to here, the Galaxy S27 and S27 Plus could also be moving to that 12MP setup.

We’ve previously heard that Samsung could shake up the cameras on the regular Galaxy S27 in other ways, including potentially switching its 50MP main camera to a Sony sensor. The latest leak gives us another clue about what Samsung may have planned for the telephoto camera, although plenty is still up in the air.

There’s also some ambiguous wording in the post, which says the S27 and S27 Plus would share their main and ultrawide camera hardware with the Ultra. As Digital Trends points out, previous reports have instead suggested that the S27 Pro will share those cameras with the Ultra. That seems the more likely reading here, although we can’t know for sure what the tipster intended.

The Ultra is apparently going its own way when it comes to zoom capability. The same leak claims Samsung is testing a 50MP, 1/1.9-inch, 4x telephoto camera for the Galaxy S27 Ultra, though it could stick with a 5x setup if Samsung decides the new option isn’t worth the additional cost. With a claimed “five S27 Ultra prototypes reportedly being evaluated,” we may be left to speculate a little longer.