The Galaxy S20 and S20+ may come with a “conventional” 12MP main camera but Samsung has ambitious plans to make its larger Galaxy S20 Ultra a serious photography-centric device. Apart from having a high-resolution 108MP main camera with a large 1/1.3″ sensor, it appears that the device will offer even more amazing zoom capabilities than the Huawei P30 Pro.
According to Max Weinbach of XDA Developer forum, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G will not only come with a 108MP main camera but also a 48MP telephoto shooter with 10x optical zoom.
10x optical zoom is quite insane for a smartphone especially if it doesn’t come with a protruding lens. As a comparison, the Huawei P30 Pro uses an 8MP periscope telephoto camera that offers 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom and up to 50x in digital zoom. Meanwhile, the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom features a 13MP periscope camera that offers 10x hybrid zoom and up to 60x in digital zoom. The new Xiaomi Mi Note 10 also features 5x optical zoom but it uses a lower resolution 5MP sensor.
Since Samsung is using a higher-resolution 48MP sensor for telephoto, this could mean better hybrid and digital zoom capabilities while preserving more details. It is speculated that the device could offer up to 100X hybrid zoom and the feature could be marketed as “Space Zoom”.
For ultra-wide-angle shots, the device will get a 12MP shooter which should be similar to its smaller siblings. We also expect Samsung to also fit a 3D Time of Flight (ToF) camera for depth effects. Another prominent leakster, Ice Universe, has also confirmed the quad-camera configuration.
In terms of design, it will also feature the same large rectangular camera bump which is getting very common these days. Below is what it could look like based on renders from serial leakster @OnLeaks.
Apart from the camera, the Galaxy S20 Ultra is expected to come with up to 512GB of storage and it can be expanded further via a microSD card slot, which is a most wanted feature. Interestingly, the device is expected to be mated with either 12GB or a whopping 16GB of RAM.
Since this is expected to be a huge 6.9″ device, the Ultra will is said to be coming with a 5,000mAh battery that supports 45W fast charging via USB-C. According to Max, a full charge can be achieved in just 74 minutes.
The Galaxy S20 series launch is happening on 11th February 2020 and it is expected to be accompanied by its new foldable device. Based on the latest leak, the new clamshell phone from Samsung will be called the Galaxy Z Flip.