Right here’s some meals for thought… Samsung hasn’t modified the 3x zoom digicam within the premium Galaxy Extremely flagship for the reason that Galaxy S22 Extremely, which shares the identical tiny sensor with the Galaxy S23 Extremely and the most recent Galaxy S24 Extremely.
And when Samsung did change the sensor within the Galaxy S21 Extremely > S22 Extremely improve cycle, it was really a downgrade from a barely bigger 3x zoom snapper with barely longer focal size. And whereas this distinction might be too small to matter, the truth that the handy 3x digicam hasn’t modified previously 4-5 years tells you the whole lot you must know concerning the firm’s consideration to digicam {hardware}.
is lastly about to do one thing about that. Sadly we aren’t speaking a couple of main digicam {hardware} overhaul involving all cameras, however it’s precisely the traditional 3x zoom sensor that’s about to make solution to a more moderen 50MP digicam – and hopefully one with a bigger sensor, though this isn’t precisely confirmed but.
Nevertheless, whereas I am glad Samsung is lastly about to improve the previous 12MP 3x digicam, I can’t assist however query the choice to proceed pairing the 3x zoom digicam with a 5x zoom digicam…
To be extra particular, now that the 50MP 3x digicam can have the decision wanted to offer us lossless high quality 6x zoom, why the necessity for a 5x digicam? The 2 focal lengths are extremely comparable.
To go a step farther, I can consider at the least three different zoom digicam setups that look extra sensible to me. Let’s have a look:
2.5x optical – 5x lossless – 7.5x optical – 15x lossless
The primary various I can consider, and one which appears like the very best thought to *me* goes with a 2.5x zoom digicam, which goes to be extra sensible for Portrait Mode pictures in addition to getting a nicer focal size once you wish to keep away from the marginally unnatural 1x pictures, which actually don’t work nice if you would like a barely extra “skilled” framing.
A 2.5x zoom digicam additionally means 5x lossless zoom, fully eliminating the necessity for a devoted 5x zoom snapper, and thus liberating up the area for one thing with an extended zoom vary once you REALLY need/have to zoom. To be extra particular, I’d go together with one thing like a 7.5x optical zoom, which might losslessly zoom to a whopping 15x – perfect for wildlife pictures/movies.
3x optical – 6x lossless – 10x optical – 20x lossless
Now, if you happen to actually wish to push the boundaries of optical zoom on a telephone, there’s all the time the choice to return to the nice previous 10x optical zoom digicam of older Galaxy Extremely fashions.
In fact, I completely wouldn’t go together with that possibility if it meant going again to the identical 10MP sensor with a tiny sensor dimension and a fair tinier aperture, which falls aside in something however the very best lighting.
Nevertheless, digicam {hardware}, digicam processing, and picture processing (in Qualcomm’s chips) has superior fairly a bit for the reason that first 10x optical zoom Samsung used within the Galaxy S21 Extremely, and I’m optimistic it’s attainable to get a a lot better {hardware} resolution for a 10x optical zoom digicam right now.
Say upgrading to a 50MP 10x optical zoom with a wider aperture was an possibility – in that case, we’d be speaking about 10x optical and a reasonably jaw-dropping 20x lossless zoom – unseen on any smartphone ever. Then, this may be mixed with the extra standard 3x-4x zoom snapper for short-range pictures/movies with 6/8x lossless zoom.
The whole lot in between must be aided by extra standard sensor-cropping/upscaling, in addition to a great AI algorithm that may restore element.
Single 3.7x 200MP digicam with 7.5x and 10x lossless zoom (you understand – like Vivo)
Talking of AI, the third various Galaxy S25 Extremely digicam setup would contain (and I guess you noticed that coming) only a single, super-high res 200MP digicam with (say) 3.7x optical zoom. If it sounds acquainted, it’s as a result of Vivo has been using this setup for a few years now, and I’d say surprisingly efficiently.
The rationale you will get away with utilizing just one zoom digicam is as a result of the 200MP sensor permits sensor-cropping on a number of ranges because of the additional pixels in comparison with a 50MP digicam. Therefore, you’d be capable of get 3.7x optical zoom mixed with 7.5x lossless and 10x lossless zoom – all from one digicam.
The opposite extremely underrated advantage of this setup is consistency in shade, publicity and light-gathering – because you’re all the time utilizing the identical digicam to zoom as an alternative of two cameras, which want completely different calibration.
The cherry on prime, in fact, is the large sensor and aperture you will get since now you’ve got the area to accommodate a big periscope sensor. Within the case of the most recent Vivo X200 Professional, we’re speaking a couple of 1/1.4 200MP sensor with an f/2.7 aperture, which simply blows the 5x digicam on the Galaxy S24 Extremely out of the water. Not solely is the zoom digicam of the Vivo X200 Professional sensor over 2x bigger than the one within the S24 Extremely, however it’s nearly as giant as the first (1/1.3) digicam of the Galaxy too – a reasonably unimaginable feat for a zoom digicam.
The one disadvantage I can consider in relation to this single-zoom digicam setup is that it does want the assistance of AI upscaling to offer you good 10-20x zoom pictures, but when the samples I’ve seen from the Vivo are something to go by, they will simply beat what Samsung or Apple has to supply proper now.
The Galaxy S25 Extremely’s digicam setup is already locked in, however the Galaxy S26 Extremely might/ought to shake issues up with extra versatile long-range zoom choices
Galaxy S24 Extremely vs Xiaomi 14 Extremely 60x digital zoom (aided by AI).
Ultimately, the Galaxy S25 Extremely can have a 200MP major digicam, which is able to taking 2x and 4x lossless zoom photographs, which (in my opinion) makes the presence of 3x and 5x zoom cameras somewhat redundant.
It’s very nice to have the two,3,4,5,6x vary lined… However what about lengthy vary zoom? In different phrases, zoom between 5-10x and past?
As all the time, some compromises have to be made – you may’t have all of it… Nevertheless, I’m undecided Samsung has made probably the most acceptable decisions right here. And one thing is telling me the Galaxy S26 Extremely might need to vary that. However let’s see…
Ultimately, Samsung was once the long-range zoom king with the Galaxy S21 Extremely and Galaxy S22 Extremely, and I can’t assist however assume the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s digicam setup appears a tad wasteful, as a result of it doesn’t look as versatile as a telephone with 4 cameras may very well be.
