Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station claims Samsung has plans to use a 200MP periscope telephoto in one of its future Ultra flagships. Judging from the fact that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is already ready to hit the market, the device is expected to be the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which will launch earlier next year.
Samsung aims to regain its leadership in long-range zoom
The Galaxy S24 Ultra uses a 50MP sensor for its 5x periscope telephoto, and it is expected to be the case for the upcoming Galaxy S25 Ultra as well. In fact, the only rumored change for the S25 Ultra’s camera system is the switch to a 50MP ultrawide from the 12MP one of the S24 Ultra.
With the Galaxy S20 Ultra, Samsung initiated the trend of ultra-high-resolution smartphone cameras. With the Galaxy S23 Ultra, it raised the bar for the main sensor resolution from 108MP to 200MP. Now it’s applying the same number to the periscope telephoto.
Although, the sensor DCS mentioned (1/1.5″) is smaller than the 200MP main sensor (1/1.33″) of the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and not essentially the same one.
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Galaxy S26 Ultra won’t be the first with a 200MP periscope telephoto
The headline will also be a bit different this time. Samsung isn’t going to be the first to pack a 200MP sensor for a periscope telephoto, as Vivo has already done it with the X200 Pro. The 200MP sensor on the X200 Pro (hands-on) is also slightly bigger (1/1.4″) than Samsung’s rumored 1/1.5″ one.
The 200MP periscope telephoto on the Vivo flagship indeed has improved its zooming capability, which currently outpaces the S24 Ultra in most long-range zoom shots in terms of detail.
Notably, most of the recent flagships also rely heavily on AI sharpening for long-range zoom shots. So, it will be interesting to see if Samsung manages to reclaim its ‘zoom king’ title from its Chinese counterpart with the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
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