Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra's best feature may not get an upgrade for the S23 Ultra

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra camera array
(Image credit: Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra's best camera feature is its 10x zoom periscope telephoto camera, which lets you take fantastic pictures from a great distance - however it's not perfect, and it sounds like the phone's Galaxy S23 successor might not improve it.

According to Samsung fan website GalaxyClub, based on information from its sources, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will get the same periscope lens as before, and it'll also be paired with a 10MP sensor like in the S22 Ultra, though it's not clear if this will be the exact same sensor or not.

That's a shame - while 10x zoom is great, a 10MP sensor doesn't really lend itself to high-res photos, particularly if you use digital zoom to get even closer.

We weren't expecting Samsung to use even longer-ranging telephoto lenses for its phones, but a higher-res sensor could help a lot.

For example, simply bumping the resolution up to 12MP would allow for 4K video recording on this lens, which would be useful for pro videographers who want to take some nice long-ranging video.


Analysis: what about the other cameras?

GalaxyClub also points out that the other zoom camera - in the S22 Ultra this supported 3x optical zoom and had a 10MP sensor - will possibly retain that resolution, thanks to the fact that the S23 will apparently have a 10MP zoom camera.

Other than that, GalaxyClub doesn't have information on the extra cameras, but a previous leak points to the main one having a whopping 200MP resolution.

There will probably be a fourth snapper with an ultra-wide lens, but leakers haven't provided much information on this camera, likely due to the fact that this kind of camera is a little less exciting than standard or zoom ones.

So it sounds like the main upgrade in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is in the main camera. The phone will need to bring camera improvements over the S22 Ultra, as that phone had no camera hardware changes over the S21 Ultra - a higher-res main camera is one, but we'd like to see more if this phone is to have a shot for our list of the best camera phones.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.


He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist. He also currently works in film as a screenwriter, director and producer.