Samsung's Expert RAW camera app is a way your phone can offer full manual camera controls, but it's currently only available on two smartphones. Those are the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S21 Ultra, and even then the feature is still in its beta stage.
Samsung has now confirmed it will be bringing the feature to further devices over the course of 2022. This is set to be the official release of the Expert RAW app, so it means the feature will no longer be in beta.
First up, we'll see the feature land on the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus on February 25. That same date will see the finished version roll out to the Galaxy S22 Ultra as well.
Then in early March we'll see the Galaxy S21 Ultra get the feature in an official capacity, with the Galaxy Z Fold 3 set to get it in April.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 2 will also get the update, but the exact timings for those devices is currently unclear. The forum post where the company announced this says it'll come in "H1 2022", which means the first half of the year.
If that's true, you should expect it to land on those handsets by the end of June.
Some modern Samsung phones miss out on this feature, including the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus, Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus and Galaxy Note 20. These phones won't get the feature as each's telephoto cameras don't offer 2x optical zoom.
That's a necessary feature for the Expert RAW software, so you shouldn't expect this camera upgrade to land on those smartphones at any stage in the future.
Analysis: Another tool in your arsenal
Expert RAW is undeniably a specialist tool that many won't use on their smartphones.
However, if you want to experiment with your phone's camera more, this will offer another tool in your arsenal for taking top-end photography on your phone. It supports HDR multi-frame capture, plus you can directly edit your photos in Adobe Lightroom.
Apple's iPhone series now offers ProRAW, which is a similar feature to what Samsung offers here.
Again, it won't prove incredibly popular and change the way most people use their phones, but for those who want to experiment more it offers an alternative option.
Via XDA Developers
