Phone
50 MP Telephoto Camera Makes the Galaxy S24 Ultra Best Out Of Rest
Samsung debuted the latest flagship Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone along with the Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 at an unpacked event powered by the Android 14-based One UI 6.1 software version, brand new features, Galaxy AI, great specifications, and, most importantly, a remarkable camera upgrade.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the premium one, from hardware to software; for instance, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset and seven years of major OS updates. Between all these, the camera specifications are one of the things that make the Galaxy S24 Ultra stand out from the rest.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra features a quad camera setup that includes:
- Wide: 200 MP f/1.7, 24mm
- Periscope telephoto: 50 MP f/3.4, 111mm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom
- Telephoto: 10 MP f/2.4, 67mm, dual-pixel PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
- Ultrawide: 12 MP f/2.2, 13mm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Super Steady Video
- Wide selfie camera: 12 MP f/2.2, 26mm, dual-pixel PDAF
This time the brand has attached a major upgrade to the camera setup of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is a 50MP telephoto Sony IMX854 sensor, which has ½.52 inch optical format. Apart from its optical image stabilization, the OIS sensor has an f/3.4 aperture, a 111 mm equivalent focal length, a 6.18 crop factor, a 22-degree field of view, and a 5x optical zoom. The major sensor size is ½.6 inch, whereas the 0.08 is well within the rounding margin error.
The latest take a closer look at the camera setup of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
- Wide: 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2), 1/1.3 inch, f/1.7, 0.6 µm, 85° FoV, Super QPD
- Periscope telephoto: 50 MP Sony IMX854, 1/2.52-inch, f/3.4, 22˚ FoV, 10X optical zoom
- Telephoto: 10 MP Sony IMX754, 1/3.52-inch, f/2.4, 1.12 µm, 36˚ FoV, 3X optical zoom, Dual Pixel AF
- Ultra-wide angle: 12 MP Sony IMX564, 1/2.55-inch, f/2.2, 1.4 µm, 120˚ FoV, Dual Pixel AF
This time, the brand has added a 5x optical zoom with a 50 MP telephoto lens, which will physically adjust the camera lens automatically to bring the subject closer without sacrificing image quality. Also, it adjusts the lens inside the camera, which results in perfectly fine details and keeps the images sharp and clear.
If jumping on its predecessor smartphone, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, then it has a 10x telephoto camera, which is too small for a 1.3-inch optical format coupled with an f/4.9 aperture and a 230mm equivalent length.
Qualcomm is building up to redesigning the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 to reach a higher clock speed and is expected to strongly compete with Apple’s forthcoming A-series chips.
Initially, it was finalized that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 design would be on the floor with a target frequency of 4.00 GHz and above in April this year, but unfortunately, that didn’t come true. However, jumping on Apple’s M4 and its high clock speeds helped the chipset accomplish a record-breaking single-core score.
Now the report says that Qualcomm appears to be debuting a chipset redesign with a new target frequency of 4.26 GHz. It is expected that we could see this change on Apple’s forthcoming A18 and A18 Pro phones. If the report is to be believed, Qualcomm is offering the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 a performance boost to contend with the latest chip from Apple.
The design is being pinched to hit a clock speed of 4.26 GHz and will probably be finalized in June. This should upgrade both single-core and multi-core performance for the forthcoming chip, which is expected to arrive in October.
Apple’s revealing of the M4 probably caught the San Diego brand off-guard, with @jasonwill101 posting the rumor on X, stating that the forthcoming SoC will be tweaked. Given that the M4 is mass-produced on TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process, most expectedly Apple could leverage this technology for the A18 and A18 Pro, giving them similar performance attributes as the newly announced 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models.
On the other hand, Qualcomm is also stating that it will mass produce its Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 on the same node. However, the next smartphone chipset is expected to be based on the Snapdragon X Elite, which, noticeably, does not even support the ARMv9 instruction set. It appears that Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen might not reach its full potential because of a missing feature (SME), but a higher clock speed aims to cover up the gap.
Here’s the fact: the phone manufacturers will need to upgrade cooling systems to avert overheating.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 is first on the list to be scheduled for next year, 2025, and it is expected to have upgraded RAM, but the maximum storage remains unchanged.
The Galaxy S25 is quite far from debuting, but already leaks and rumors have started unveiling details regarding hardware and software novelties. Now a few rumors are claiming that Samsung could keep various areas of the Galaxy S25 Ultra unchanged as compared to the newly launched Galaxy S24 Ultra. On the other hand, another tipster says that Samsung could introduce a RAM upgrade to its top-end flagship in 2025, but the internal storage might not change.
It is expected that the Korean giant is setting up to bring back 16GB of RAM to the Galaxy S25 Ultra after reducing it in recent models. It appears that this move might be a response to competition from Chinese phone makers and a strategy to upgrade market share.
However, the reason to reduce RAM by Samsung is yet to be clear, but it could be related to keeping costs down. Initially, Samsung introduced a 16GB RAM variant with early flagship devices such as the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the Galaxy S21Ultra.
A post on X shared by a tipster hinting at three variants of Galaxy S25 variants:
- 12GB + 256GB
- 16GB + 512GB
- 16GB + 1TB
However, Samsung might be hesitant to increase base storage since usually users don’t need that much. While expandable storage is perfect for some, it’s unlikely the Galaxy S25 Ultra will have a microSD slot based on recent trends from Samsung.
The Galaxy S24 seems like a good luck button for Samsung! Just after the debut of the Galaxy S24 series, the revenue and profits of the Korean giant went on cloud nine. It breaks a record of four years, as Samsung smartphone sales have risen in the US more than in the previous four years.
It was already revealed within a few days after its debut, the Samsung Galaxy S24 broke the sales record of its predecessor series. Now again, the reports are unveiling the new metrics of success, as the Galaxy smartphone market share within the first quarter of this year was 31%, which is a 14% boost as compared to last year’s first quarter (Q1 2023) when the brand’s market share stuck near 27%.
The boost in market share appears to have come at the expense of Google’s and TCL’s shipments. With a rise of 31% in the market, the share reached a four-year high after 2020. However, here’s the catchable fact: even after a boost in sales, Samsung remained the second-biggest smartphone brand behind Apple.
Apple was the leading smartphone brand in the US during the quarter. It had a market share of 52%, similar to its metrics for 2023. That’s impressive, and it appears that the debut of the Galaxy S24 series didn’t affect Apple since it is still leading the market share. However, a huge range of people are choosing Samsung’s high-end phones, such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra.