According to well-known tipster Ice Universe, the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200MP camera has “unparalleled” photography computational skills. Samsung is the only maker of 200MP smartphone cameras so far. The first-gen solution (ISOCELL HP1) came in September last year. The company followed up with the ISOCELL HP3 earlier this year, with smaller pixels and sensor size. The latter also got a specialized version called ISOCELL HPX last week. It is reportedly an optimized sensor for Xiaomi phones. Maybe other Chinese brands too. For the Galaxy S23 Ultra, meanwhile, Samsung is developing a new 200MP camera called the ISOCELL HP2. It’s no rocket science that the upcoming sensor will be the company’s best yet. But Ice Universe suggests the improvements are unbelievable. The Korean firm may finally unlock the true powers of a 200MP camera on smartphones. The next-gen Samsung flagship is said to boast much improved night photography and videography. It’s such a massive change over the Galaxy S22 Ultra that the tipster is calling it the biggest Galaxy camera upgrade in the past five years. That statement isn’t only for the main camera, though. The 3X and 10X telephoto zoom cameras on the Galaxy S23 Ultra will also bring notable upgrades to image quality. Samsung is sticking to the same 10MP resolution for these cameras as on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. But the company has improved color accuracy and processing algorithms that matter a lot more than resolution when it comes to image quality.
Galaxy S23 Ultra will offer a 50MP camera mode
The same source that shared this information about Galaxy S23 Ultra camera upgrades last week claimed that the phone will lack a 50MP mode. Despite packing an improved 200MP sensor, it was said to only offer 4×4 pixel binning (merging 16 neighboring pixels) for 12.5MP shots in low-light environments. We doubted the accuracy of this info as there was no reason for Samsung to just omit 2×2 pixel binning for 50MP images. Both ISOCELL HP1 and ISOCELL HP3 have that capability. We speculated the information was passed along inaccurately. And we were right. Ice Universe has clarified that the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 200MP camera will have a 50MP mode. The feature is still in development and not enabled yet. The camera software also does not support it as the functionality isn’t ready. That’s probably what created the confusion. Rest assured, Samsung’s third-gen 200MP camera will have everything from the previous solutions, plus some big extras.
