Samsung Galaxy S11+: here's what could be wrong with those renders

Steve Hemmerstoffer has a pretty amazing track record when it comes to leaking phones. This year alone he has revealed the designs of Apple's iPhone 11, the OnePlus 7T, Samsung's Galaxy Note 10, the Sony Xperia 5, and many others months ahead of their official introductions. But sometimes, as is inevitable, he makes a few mistakes. 

Early renders of Google’s Pixel 4 misrepresented the camera layout when published back in June, while the first batch of Galaxy S10 images featured thicker bezels when first unveiled in late 2018. Hemmerstoffer released renders of his latest scoop, the Galaxy S11+, just a few days ago yet one tipster believes they're slightly inaccurate due to the CAD files upon which they're based. Today, he has revealed why. 

Samsung's real camera layout might not be nearly as messy

Upon first glance, the most shocking element of the Samsung Galaxy S11+ design renders is the camera module that sits on the back. It's absolutely massive and possibly the biggest ever seen on a smartphone, but despite all of the comments suggesting otherwise, it now seems as though the dimensions are indeed accurately represented. The sensors sitting inside the area are a whole different story, though.

It's quite fair to say that the camera layout is a little messy. The rendered setup shows almost zero uniformity or alignment and doesn't appear to have been created with aesthetics in mind. Fortunately, Ice Universe believes that the module's current layout is wrong. In fact, he says the "real" Galaxy S11+ features a "neat" sensor layout.

The tipster in question didn't go into much detail yet the most logical layout likely involves aligning the two sensors on the left. Moving the central camera and LED flash upwards and towards the middle while also shifting the right column of components upwards a little could make things look better too. To give you an idea of what these changes may look like, we've created a quick mock-up which can be compared above with Steve Hemmerstoffer's original render. Do note that the corrections have only been based on guesses, though.

The 5x zoom camera may also be misrepresented 

Beyond the layout of the camera module, Ice Universe says the way Samsung's periscope camera has been depicted isn't right. Periscope-like lenses use square-shaped openings to gather extra light but in the renders provided by Hemmerstoffer, none of the cameras feature such a solution. Therefore, the Galaxy S11+ images are either inaccurate or Samsung has ditched plans to introduce support for true 5x optical zoom.

As things stand, Samsung's next-generation flagship is expected to make use of a new dual-zoom system. If true, the implementation above will be accompanied by a separate 2x or 3x telephoto camera, therefore allowing users to take photos at any zoom level between 1x and 5x without needing to worry about low-quality photos.

Xiaomi recently unveiled a low-cost version of this system on the penta-camera Mi Note 10 Pro. The latter pairs a regular 2x telephoto camera with a second shooter that's capable of producing what the company advertises as 5x optical zoom. In reality, it uses an 8-megapixel 3.7x telephoto camera which is later cropped down to 5-megapixels to achieve 5x optical zoom, hence the lack of a square-shaped opening on the phone.

It's certainly possible Samsung is planning to replicate Xiaomi's setup on the Galaxy S11+, which would explain the lack of a square-shaped opening in the renders, but it's also highly unlikely. After all, the Galaxy S11+ will be marketed as a premium phone and priced accordingly, meaning premium components are planned for all aspects of the phone, the camera department included.