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Samsung's Galaxy S22 camera features are coming to older phones

By Joshua Swingle

Published: May 04, 2022, 8:05 AM

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Samsung's Galaxy S22 camera features are coming to older phones

The Galaxy S22 series arrived with a range of new camera features including better night shots thanks to Samsung’s “Nightography” software wizardry and new effects for video calls. Now, the South Korean brand is bringing some of these enhancements to older devices.

Improved night portraits

The Galaxy S22 series is capable of shooting night photography in Portrait Mode with the telephoto camera and with Samsung’s May software release this feature will be added to flagships dating back to 2020. These are the Galaxy S20 series, Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy Note 20 series, Galaxy Z Fold 2, and Galaxy Z Fold 3.

Auto-framing function

Samsung’s auto-framing does exactly what it says on the tin — zoom in and out and pan around to keep people in the frame. It works with up to 10 people standing up to 5m from the device.

It’s currently available on the Galaxy S22 series but will now be extended to the Galaxy S21 series and the more recent Galaxy S21 FE. On top of this, enhancements to the feature will be rolled out to Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Fold 2, Galaxy Flip 3, Galaxy Z Flip 5G, and Galaxy Z Flip owners.

Improved video call effects

This feature lets Samsung owners use custom backgrounds and mic controls in video calling apps. Some of the supported apps include Google Meet and Duo, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Zoom, and Messenger.

The Galaxy S20 and S21 families along with their respective FE variants will be receiving support soon, as will the Galaxy Note 20 series, all Galaxy Z Flip models, and the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and Fold 3. Samsung has also committed to rolling out the feature to the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 ranges by the end of June. That’s in addition to the Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite models.

On top of these background and microphone controls, Samsung has promised to extend support for its auto-framing feature to video calls as well. The same list of compatible devices applies: every Samsung flagship launched after 2020.

Improved App Store Camera app quality

Next up in the catalog of Samsung’s upcoming features is one that social media lovers will appreciate. The Galaxy S22 series includes special “image quality optimization technology” that’s applied to photos taken from both social media and third-party camera apps. In other words, there should no longer be a massive quality difference between photos shot on the Samsung Camera app and those taken through Snapchat or Instagram.

This optimization technology will soon arrive on the Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy Z Fold 3, and Galaxy Z Flip 3. Unfortunately, older devices like the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy S20 won’t be supported.

Additional Galaxy Z Fold 3 camera feature improvements

Last on Samsung’s list of camera improvements are some tweaks designed specifically for the Galaxy Z Fold 3. Once the May software update has been released, the foldable will offer support for the Expert RAW app. The Pro camera mode is being extended to the Fold 3’s telephoto camera too, providing users with more flexibility.

Samsung hasn’t offered an exact schedule for the rollout of these features, though it has confirmed that the update will first be available for Galaxy S21 models before being rolled out to the rest of the line-up by the end of May. And as mentioned above, select features coming to Galaxy S10 and Note 10 should arrive by the end of June.

Unsurprisingly, Samsung will start the software rollout in its home market of South Korea before making the update available internationally.