Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra camera: Everything we know so far
The S27 Ultra is shaping up as a big camera overhaul.
Galaxy S26 Ultra camera system picture here might get a big overhaul in 2027 | Image by PhoneArena
Samsung is preparing big changes for its next flagship, the Galaxy S27 Ultra. After years of slow-paced updates, the S27 Ultra is expected to finally get a bigger battery and recent leaks and rumors reveal that the camera will undergo a big transformation as well.
I should also clarify what LOFIC, the key new technology, does. LOFIC stands for Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor, and it refers to the hardware of the sensor itself. Imagine a traditional sensor composed of individual pixels, each pixel being a bucket you can fill with light. When a scene gets too bright, the bucket overflaws and extra light spills over. The information is lost and this typically results in brighter parts of the image appearing as pure white, the so called "clipped highlights".
New selfie camera
Dutch publication GalaxyClub.nl has an excellent track record with Samsung leaks. In early July, they reported that the Galaxy S27 Ultra and the new Galaxy S27 Pro will get an all-new front camera.
Expect to see a new 16MP selfie camera with a square sensor that allows easy switching between portrait and landscape orientations without loss of quality. With a 16MP square sensor, Samsung could just crop 12MP 4:3 images in both orientations, which is a common resolution, so this makes a lot of sense. Quick reminder: the entire Galaxy S26 series features a 12MP selfie camera, with a 1/3.2-inch sensor size.
The approach is also similar to the introduction of the 18MP square selfie camera on the iPhone 17 series, so Samsung seems to be copying Apple here. Apple's idea makes a lot of sense, so I'm personally happy that Samsung also introduces a square selfie camera sensor.
It's still unclear whether the base Galaxy S27 and Galaxy S27 Plus models will get the same selfie camera, but it would be strange if Samsung limits this just to the flagships while Apple offers it to its base models.
What's happening with telephoto cameras?
The biggest camera change, however, might happen with the telephoto cameras.
Namely, the Galaxy S27 Ultra is expected to be the first Samsung flagship in years that will have JUST ONE telephoto camera.
Instead, we expect a single 50MP telephoto camera, so Samsung is dropping the 3X telephoto camera completely. The 3X camera was always the weak link in the system, as it used a much smaller sensor than the 5X one, so quality was always mediocre.
So what will happen to the 5X telephoto camera then?
We don't have the clear picture there. In January, leaker Ice Universe claimed that Samsung will not change it, which means we'll get the same 50MP 5X telephoto sensor.
It's still too early to know for sure, though, so I expect to see more leaks and rumors about the telephoto camera over the coming months.
Main camera
We have seen two rumors about the main camera on the Galaxy S27 Ultra and both come from reliable sources. First, industry insider Digital Chat Station posted about a new and larger 200MP Samsung-made sensor (1/1.12-inch size) in the works. This flagship sensor, called Samsung HPA, will be using the new LOFIC technology and all the latest advancements, and Samsung is expected to be selling it to other brands.
LOFIC introduces one more container, so the extra light that hits the individual pixel bucket is not just lost, but flows into this second container. As a result, bright parts of the image are retained much better, resulting in photos and videos with much improved dynamic range.
Exciting, right? But interestingly, Digital Chat Station hinted that Samsung might not be the first company to actually implement its own sensor, and we might first see it in a different phone.
Then, Samsung specialist Ice Universe chimed in, saying that the Galaxy S27 Ultra is likely to use the 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP6 sensor (internally known as S5KHP6) instead of the HPA. The HP6 sensor will feature a smaller, 1/1.31-inch size, but it will be based on the HPA sensor and use many of the technologies used there. This means that it's highly likely that the HP6 will use LOFIC as well, but it's not certain.
The HP6 in the Galaxy S27 Ultra should replace the HP2 sensor used in the S26 Ultra and previous phones, which was a sensor of the same 1/1.31-inch size.
TL;DR:
- Samsung is likely to use a new HP6 sensor for the main camera of the Galaxy S27 Ultra
- Expect better dynamic range thanks to LOFIC technology
- This will result in better-looking photos and videos, especially when it comes to clipped highlights
Ultra-wide camera
We don't expect big changes to the ultra-wide camera on the Galaxy S27 Ultra. Leaker Ice Universe is on the record saying that Samsung will change something, but the most likely scenario is that Samsung adopts a new sensor with the same 50MP resolution and a similar size.
Quick reminder: Samsung upgraded to a 50MP ultra-wide camera with the S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra, while previous models featured a 12MP ultra-wide camera.
Again, we don't have tons of specifics here, so let's wait out and see how this develops.
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