Galaxy S24 Ultra might not be the zoom king in 2024 thanks to this downgrade

Samsung‘s Ultra phones have offered a 10x periscope camera for several years now, earning their place among the best camera phones on the market. Unfortunately, a leaker has now claimed that this could be a thing of the past.

Leaker Ice Universe has claimed on X that the Galaxy S24 Ultra will swap out the 10MP 10x periscope camera for a 50MP 5x telephoto camera. More specifically, Ice asserts that this is a 1/2.52-inch sensor with tiny, 0.7-micron pixels.

This would be a disappointment if confirmed as Samsung’s Ultra phones have long been the only devices with 10x periscope cameras (aside from HUAWEI’s older handsets). The 10x camera wasn’t perfect as it offered a relatively paltry 10MP resolution for three generations, but it still delivered long-range zoom shots that were typically better than other phones. This camera also allowed you to film video at a native 10x, resulting in good video quality at this range.

We have seen phones like the Google Pixel 7 Pro using image cropping from a 48MP 5x periscope camera combined with imaging smarts to deliver good 10x shots. But picture quality tends to rapidly fall apart when you exceed 15x. So we’d expect a similar challenge for the S24 Ultra if it’s indeed opting for a 50MP 5x camera.

Ice Universe also claimed that Samsung will stick with a 10MP 3x telephoto camera for short-range zoom. This assertion comes after leaks earlier this year that the Galaxy S24 Ultra would get a 50MP 3x camera instead. This makes some sense as there wouldn’t be a huge need for a super-high-resolution 3x camera to fill the zoom gap between 3x and 10x if Samsung is using a 5x 50MP camera.

Either way, we hope this leak isn’t true as it would be a shame if Samsung said goodbye to dedicated 10x cameras. But between this claim and suggestions that 200MP telephoto cameras could be a thing in the future, we’re eager to see how things pan out next year.