Galaxy S24 Ultra gossip season opens early: Samsung rumored to kill 3X zoom camera, stick with periscope only

Galaxy S24 Ultra might be coming in as long as ten months, but we are already hearing the very first rumors about Samsung's next flagship and these are... well, let's say interesting.

@IceUniverse, one of our best sources on Samsung-related gossip, now says that the company might kill one of the two zoom cameras on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Namely, the 3X zoom camera might get nixed, which means that the S24 Ultra will have three instead of four rear cameras.

And yes, that also means that the periscope zoom lens will be the only zoom camera left.

Now before we dive any deeper, let's stop for a moment and remember that it's been less than two months since Samsung released the Galaxy S23 Ultra. For what it counts, that phone is still brand new, and we have nearly ten months until the rumored S24 Ultra comes out. In other words, it's way, way too early to have any substantial leaks of any kind. So take this with a grain of salt and the gossip that it is, just keep in mind that it comes from a well-connected insider.  

With this important disclaimer in mind, users in the comments to the post are reasonably suggesting that Samsung might have figured out a way to do sensor cropping or something else that would provide a similarly good quality of images to that of the dedicated 3X zoom camera.

Another big question that arises then is - if true - will Samsung keep the same 10X zoom periscope camera? Or will it use a different camera? Maybe a 5X periscope zoom camera would then make more sense to fill in the void in the 3X to 10X zoom space.

A quick look at the competition shows that no other phone uses a 10X zoom periscope camera. Instead, Xiaomi bets on a 5X periscope camera in its upcoming Xiaomi 13 Ultra camera dream phone, and the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro Max is also rumored to use a 5X or 6X periscope-style shooter. Yet others like the excellent Oppo Find X6 Pro use a 3X periscope camera and the Vivo X90 Pro Plus bets on a 3.5X periscope shooter.

All of these phones definitely take their cameras seriously and all of them go with a shorter zoom range.

The advantages of a 3X to 5X periscope style camera is that you can use a lens with a faster aperture (usually around f/3.0), while the 10X zoom camera on the Galaxy S23 Ultra has an f/4.9 aperture, which makes this camera far less useful in low light.

Interestingly, if Samsung indeed kills the 3X zoom camera and goes back to a shorter range periscope camera (all merely a gossip at the moment), it would mean going back.

Samsung started focusing on zoom quality first with the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but that phone shipped with a 5X zoom periscope camera.

The dual 3X - 10X zoom camera system was first introduced in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, then improved in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and further perfected in the current Galaxy S23 Ultra.

But just three years ago, Samsung obviously thought that a single zoom camera solution was good enough. The Galaxy S20 Ultra and also the Note 20 Ultra, the last in the Note family, both used the 5X zoom solution instead.

Or is it that Samsung is finally hearing the complaints of some users that the Galaxy Ultra series have just become way to bulky and heavy devices, and is doing something to change that?

Whatever it is, we will keep informing you how this rumor develops.