Samsung's next flagship phone is looking like it'll lean heavily on AI to give it an image quality advantage
(Image credit: Samsung)
As we draw nearer to next year's launch of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, rumors are fast surfacing around the camera abilities of this hotly-anticipated flagship. Most interesting of the latest crop of leaks is a rumor that, though the S24 Ultra is likely to share the same primary camera module as the current S23 Ultra, the new phone may default to recording 24MP images, rather than 12MP shots as in the S23 Ultra.
If true, this would be a simple yet potentially significant way to boost detail capture, all without making any camera hardware changes. It's a trick we've seen Apple employ with the iPhone 15 range, whereby it pixel-bins a 48MP shot down to 12MP, but then merges it with a full-res 48MP image to form a hybrid 24MP photo.
At present Samsung gives you the option to record 12MP, 50MP or 200MP images from the S23 Ultra, but if you select either of the two high-res options, dynamic range is likely to suffer. If Samsung can retain the same dynamic range and low noise levels of a 12MP shot while also offering the increased detail of a 24MP image, then it's a win-win outcome.
(Image credit: Samsung)
The same tipster also suggests that Samsung's Photo Remaster feature contained within the included image editor app may offer more "details" (interpret this how you want), and the Gallery app could include three extra options: Portrait, Remaster, and Delete.
As for the S24's camera hardware, as far as we can tell, this is likely to remain largely unchanged from the S23 Ultra. Headlining the camera array will probably be a 200MP module with OIS, flanked by a 12MP ultrawide snapper, and a telephoto module providing 3x optical zoom with OIS. The only new camera addition is said to be a 50MP telephoto camera, supposedly giving 5x optical zoom, again with OIS. The extra megapixel count is then high enough to enable the phone to crop in on a 50MP shot, with the cropped image effectively providing 10x lossless 'zoom'.
Another fresh rumor, this time from serial tipster Ice Universe, hints that the S24 Ultra could feature an improve Night Mode, though the tip doesn't go into any detail as to how the mode has been improved. The Tweet goes on to say that the main camera will also lean on AI to identify 12 kinds of objects/scenes, in order to better optimise image quality. Again, there's no further info on this, but it would make sense for the phone to dial down the sharpening and vibrancy should it detect a scene containing faces. Conversely, if the phone detected a composition of colorful flowers, then it could ramp up sharpness and color saturation for maximum impact.
Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.
