The Galaxy S24 series is expected to debut by next year, 2024, with three variants Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra. Earlier rumors claimed that Samsung intends to bring back the 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP2 sensor for the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Galaxy S23 Ultra, which was released in the first quarter of 2023, was equipped with this same sensor. It was expected that to feature a more enhanced sensor than this, the Galaxy S24 Ultra may equip with a 5x zoom camera than the current 3x zoom camera.
But it seems this is not the scenario now as Samsung plans to use the same 200-megapixel ISOCELL HP2 as the primary camera with all previous camera sensor specifications for three long years until the Galaxy S25 Ultra. A reliable tipster, Ice Universe, revealed that the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Ultra will retain the 200 ISOCELL HP2 in his Twitter handle. The Galaxy S24 Ultra will not transform from a 3x telephoto camera to a 5x telephoto camera, but it will receive an update to its 10x telephoto camera.
With the ISOCELL HP2 sensor, the newest high-end smartphones can support higher resolutions without having bigger camera bumps, benefitting the users. But the customers are quite disappointed by this news as the HDR processing is still poor, the dark areas are still noisy, and the nighttime images are worse than ever, with sharpening being problematic. It is a concern that Samsung will employ the HP2 up till the Galaxy S25 Ultra, despite the fact that it is still inferior to IMX989.
The IMX989 has a Quad Bayer color filter array, which transforms neighboring pixels into distinct colors to improve light sensitivity and lower noise in photos. The tipster compared the S24 Ultra with the iPhone 16 pro in terms of the camera system, which will include the same stock of sensors with an HP2 primary camera, ultra-wide angle, 3x zoom camera, and slightly upgraded 10x lenses. This is something that can’t be expected from a big manufacturer like Samsung, not enhancing the performance and employing the same specifications for many years.
