Samsung's new zoom feature does something you've never seen a smartphone do

This week, Qualcomm held its Snapdragon Summit, where it announced its AI-powered Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. One of the first phones that will get the new processor is the Galaxy S24 series. Now, Samsung has shown off a new impressive zoom feature that will leverage the chip’s AI capabilities.

Through a blog post and YouTube video, Samsung has announced a new feature it is working on. Called ISOCELL Zoom Anyplace, this feature uses the company’s 200MP camera to capture both close-ups and full-frame video at the same time. According to the tech giant, both full-view and zoomed-in areas can be recorded in up to 4K.

In addition to dual recording, the feature will be capable of using AI to track subjects and stabilize shots. As Samsung explains on its website:

Until now, users have had to focus on a moving subject when shooting a video themselves. But with ISOCELL Zoom Anyplace, the camera quickly finds even a fast-moving subject and tracks and follows it, ensuring that it is not missed during filming. Additionally, videos can be shot with less screen shake. Because ISOCELL Zoom Anyplace takes charge of tasks involved in tracking moving subjects while filming, you can enjoy the scene in front of them with your own eyes.

This means that regardless of your recording skills, subjects moving out of frame may become of a thing of the past. Samsung also boasts users will be able to zoom in 2x or even 4x with no noticeable drop in quality or change in angle.

The feature sounds somewhat like Google’s Zoom Enhance feature, which it announced during the Pixel 8 event. However, that feature only uses AI to sharpen and enhance the details in a zoomed-in photo.