Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra is here, packing a wealth of upgrades from design to its fancy new privacy display, which aims to prevent people from spying on any shady stuff you have on your commute. But the Ultra range is always where Samsung releases its latest, greatest camera technology, so let’s take a closer look at what’s new for the photographers among you.
In terms of hardware, not much has changed. The main camera has a 200-megapixel resolution, a 50-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera, and 10-megapixel 3x telephoto and 50-megapixel 5x telephoto cameras. Those figures are the same as the previous S25 Ultra, so those of you hoping for a camera overhaul to match Xiaomi’s upcoming 17 Ultra may be disappointed.
The large aperture of the main lens and the phone’s 5x camera should help the Galaxy S26 Ultra capture better night photos and videos.
But there have been tweaks. Wide and ultrawide cameras now have wider apertures, which should help capture more light and be especially useful in low-light situations. In fact, Samsung in particular highlighted the improved night mode image performance for both stills and video, with the night video mode using more advanced software processing for noise reduction and improved colors.
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Speaking of video, it will still shoot in 8K and supports the Log codec with built-in LUTs (which is what cinema professionals call filters, actually), which should make the phones very attractive to serious video creators. To show that the phone means business, Samsung took a leaf out of Apple’s playbook and filmed and live-streamed its San Francisco launch event using the S26 Ultra.
Samsung filmed their event using Galaxy S26 Ultras.
There’s also a feature called Horizon Lock, which aims to keep the horizon level while shooting video, no matter how you twist and turn your phone. This type of stabilization already exists in action cameras, and can help capture intense action, such as when you’re running to keep up as you film your friend skateboarding.
But because it’s 2026 and AI is a word on tech company’s lips, many big updates are coming in the form of AI for manufacturing. It’s built deep into the camera experience, allowing you to use natural language commands to edit photos, including combining one photo element with another, or even changing the outfit someone in your photo is wearing.
During its Unpacked event, Samsung demoed the features, showing how its AI tools can take a photo of a dog and place it in the arms of a girl in another photo. The company also demonstrated how a phone can quickly change a woman’s outfit from a simple shirt to a cozy sweater, and then into a stylish skater.
There’s plenty of AI baked into the graphics experience in the S26 Ultra.
To be honest, the images look realistic — at least in my view on YouTube live streams — or how well these tools perform in everyday use remains to be seen until we spend some time with them. The big question is whether you really need them. I won’t answer that, but I will say that I’m disappointed that Samsung is following the trend of using AI gimmicks as major improvements to their cameras rather than focusing on taking better photos in the real world.
I will reserve judgment until I have time to take photos in my beautiful hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland. There, I’ll focus on figuring out how the phone can take photos I’d like to share with family and friends, not just how easily I can wear a fake sweater.
