Samsung did Galaxy S25 Ultra buyers a favor by not equipping it with the better HP9 camera

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Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 200MP HP9
In June last year, Samsung introduced the 200MP ISOCELL HP9 sensor. It was not used for the Galaxy S25 Ultra and there's a good reason for that.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with a higher-resolution 50MP ultrawide camera but the megapixel count for the other three sensors has not changed. Some users were wondering why the phone doesn't feature the HP9 sensor. Known leaker Ice Universe has revealed the main reason behind that.



The HP9 is a huge sensor and needs a lot of space. It's thicker than the Galaxy S25 Ultra and its use would have made the phone unappealing aesthetically.

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Granted, some Vivo phones employ the sensor, and the upcoming Xiaomi 15 Ultra is also rumored to feature it. It makes for great photos, but the trade-off is that the HP 9 makes the camera bump very thick. This could be one of the reasons why the phones that employ it don't have mass market appeal.

Samsung is unlikely to ever use the HP9 for its Galaxy phones. What it's more likely to do is use the All Lenses on Prism (ALoP) technology it revealed in November to develop a better telephoto sensor without increasing the camera bump.

The Galaxy S25 Edge, which was teased at Unpacked, was previously expected to feature the ALoP tech, but given that the phone is rumored to not have a telephoto camera, it looks like ALoP is more a concept than a viable tech right now, and it could be a while before this structure replaces the conventional folded optics. Regardless, Samsung is at least making progress and it's also good to know that it doesn't want to rush out a half-baked solution.

Even without the HP 9, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the best camera phones of the year and will outperform most other smartphones.
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