Samsung could be bringing its 108MP camera to the Galaxy A series

Samsung first debuted a 108MP camera on last year’s Galaxy S20 Ultra, and it’s been a fixture on the firm’s Ultra flagships since then. But it seems like the company could be preparing to bring this tech to its cheaper smartphones.

The Elec reports that Samsung will bring a 108MP camera to 2022’s Galaxy A73 smartphone. The Korean-based outlet didn’t cite a source for the claim, but it has a pretty good track record with Samsung-related leaks.

The outlet adds that this camera will have optical image stabilization (OIS), which lines up with its earlier report that 2022 Galaxy A series phones will have OIS.

There’s no word on the exact model of camera sensor we’ll see on the Galaxy A73, so there’s no guarantee that we’ll get the same sensor seen on Samsung’s Ultra phones. Nevertheless, this will still be a higher resolution camera than the Galaxy A72‘s 64MP main snapper.

The upsides and downsides of 108MP cameras

108MP sensors offer more detailed shots in broad daylight when shooting at full resolution, although this does come at the expense of larger file sizes. These sensors also feature smaller photo-sites than high-end 48MP and 50MP cameras, but Samsung has used four-in-one and nine-in-one pixel-binning to enable better low-light shots.

Another side-effect with 108MP sensors is that shooting at full resolution often results in longer processing times. Even last year’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (Exynos model) has shot-to-shot times of roughly two seconds when shooting at 108MP. This delay isn’t bad but mid-range phones usually have less capable silicon, so we hope Samsung optimizes the Galaxy A73’s chipset in this regard to keep processing times reasonable.

Nevertheless, it looks like you should keep an eye on 2022’s Galaxy A series phones if you want good cameras on a budget.