Galaxy S21 Ultra could feature the best telephoto camera in any smartphone

We are two months away from the Galaxy S21 series launch, but their CAD renders surfaced weeks ago. A few hours ago, all the important Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21+, and Galaxy S21 Ultra specifications were leaked, offering us a look at what improvements we could expect from Samsung next year.

Now, additional details regarding the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera have surfaced. According to @UniverseIce, the highest-end Galaxy S21 series smartphone will feature two 10MP telephoto cameras, one with a 3x optical zoom lens and the other with a 10x optical zoom lens. Moreover, the phone could feature the best telephoto camera ever, thanks to its larger sensors and faster autofocus.

Both telephoto cameras on the Galaxy S21 Ultra reportedly use 1/2.8-inch sensors with 1.22µm pixels and dual-pixel phase-detection autofocus. That’s a huge improvement over the 48MP (1/2-inch) sensor with 0.8µm pixels from the Galaxy S20 Ultra because the Galaxy S21 Ultra wouldn’t need to digitally crop from the sensor, resulting in greater details and light sensitivity.

Switching to dual-pixel autofocus for the telephoto cameras would result in faster and more reliable focusing performance. Compared to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the Galaxy S21 Ultra could also capture better portrait images, thanks to the dedicated 3x telephoto camera. If you remember, the Galaxy S20 Ultra uses a digital crop from its 108MP sensor to offer a 2x zoom when you use the portrait mode.

Galaxy S21 Ultra leaked specifications

The Galaxy S21 Ultra will reportedly feature a 6.8-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-O LTPO display with QHD+ resolution, up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness, and a 1Hz – 120Hz variable refresh rate. The phone will also be compatible with S Pen. It is expected to debut with Android 11 and One UI 3.1. The phone features the Exynos 2100 processor (Snapdragon 875 in the US and China).

Samsung has reportedly equipped the Galaxy S21 Ultra with a second-generation 108MP primary camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 10MP telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom. It will also feature dual-video recording, 4K/60fps video recording from all the cameras, and 8K/30fps video recording from its primary camera. The phone is also said to feature laser autofocus.

Other specifications of the Galaxy S21 Ultra include 5G, 4G, dual-band Wi-Fi 6E, GPS, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, USB Type-C port, stereo speakers, under-display fingerprint reader, 5,000mAh battery, 25W fast charging, wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging. The phone will reportedly be available in just two colors: Phantom Black and Phantom Silver.

• Model: SM-G998U
• Dimensions: : x x mm
• Display: 6.8 inch / 172.72 mm
• CPU: Snapdragon 875
• Camera: 12MP