Samsung has recently come under fire after a Reddit post claimed that the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Space Zoom photos of the moon were fake. According to the post, the phone applied non-existent details to the moon photos, making them appear more detailed than they actually were. So are these claims true? Samsung responds to fake moon photo accusations. Here are the details…

Samsung Denies Faking Moon Photos, Claims AI Enhances Image Quality and Colors

Samsung has responded to the accusations, stating that the phone doesn’t apply any image overlaying to the photos. Instead, the AI-based scene optimization technology recognizes the moon as the main object and takes multiple shots for multi-frame composition. The AI then enhances the details of the image quality and colors, resulting in the detailed moon photos that users have been capturing with the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

samsung moon photos
This side-by-side comparison shows a blurred photo of the moon and what the Galaxy S23 Ultra allegedly produced.  (Image credit: ibreakphotos / Reddit )

In response to the original Reddit post, Samsung explained that users can deactivate the AI-based Scene Optimizer, which will disable automatic detail enhancements to the photos taken by the user. The original poster on Reddit claimed that, due to the application of a gaussian blur, there was no data for the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s image signal processor or computational photography algorithms to process. However, the photo served up had a lot more detail than could be seen in the original image, leading to accusations of fake moon shots.

Samsung has responded by stating that the Galaxy S23 Ultra is using AI/ML (neural network trained on 100s of images of the moon) to recover/add the texture of the moon on users’ moon pictures. While some may think that this is simply the camera’s capability, Samsung explained that it’s not. The processing done by the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s space-related model is likely figuring out what detail should be added based on images of the moon it’s previously been fed.

While the result may not be a true representation of what the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera sensors can capture, Samsung argues that the moon shots are enhanced with details the camera can’t see or detect. In other words, the Galaxy S23 Ultra and its AI are adding detail and artificially enhancing moon photos, but it’s not simply faking it with a different image.

Ultimately, whether you consider these enhancements acceptable or not is a matter of personal preference. However, Samsung maintains that it is committed to delivering the best-in-class photo experiences in any condition, and the AI-based scene optimization technology is a part of that commitment.

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