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Samsung just posted a lengthy teaser that essentially says that it wants to adapt its high-res 200MP sensors employed in the main camera of the Galaxy S23 Ultra and other phones, to telephoto cameras as well.
Currently, the S23 Ultra employs a 10MP 3X zoom telephoto camera for portraits and nearby object magnification with f/2.4 aperture, and a 10MP 10X zoom camera with folded optics and f/4.9 aperture.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $199.99
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Going for AT&T or T-Mobile gets you the S23 Ultra starting at $199.99 (with trade-in). The unlocked model starts at $449.99. You can also get the Ultra for US Cellular and Verizon, and there the phone starts at $449.99 and $399.99 respectively. Plus, you get exclusive Red, Blue, and other colors only at Samsung!
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Galaxy S23 Plus starts at FREE (256GB version)
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$999
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With an eligible trade-in, the Galaxy S23 Plus starts at $0 for AT&T and T-Mobile. US Cellular, or Unlocked variants start at $299.99 for the 256GB version. Verizon's version starts at $199.99, and of course, all these discounts are with eligible trade-in. If you wish to go for the 512GB version, you can have it starting from $119.99 (for AT&T and T-Mobile).
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Galaxy S23 for free with eligible trade-in!
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$799
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The Galaxy S23 can be yours for free with eligible trade-in for the AT&T or the T-Mobile version. For Verizon, US Cellular, or unlocked, you pay only $99.99 with trade-in. If you'd like more storage, the 256GB version can be yours for FREE with trade-in on AT&T and T-Mobile, for $59.99 at Verizon, and for $159.99 at US Cellular or unlocked.
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Advantages of a 200MP telephoto camera
Samsung notes, rather rightfully, that telephoto cameras allow for superior portraits thanks to the diminished facial feature distortion and more shallow depth of field that adds bokeh effect to the background. Coupled with a crazy 200MP sensor resolution, this can create amazingly detailed portraits of people and objects and increase light sensitivity when up to 16 adjacent pixels are binned into one giant virtual pixel.
Samsung demos face distortion decrease with telephoto cameras
Despite the relatively short zoom range of the telephoto camera on the Galaxy S23 Ultra compared to its monster 10x periscope zoom set, Samsung notes that "on a 3x telephoto module with a 200MP sensor, lossless zoom scenarios can be run from 3x to 6x to 12x," which "means that more diverse scenes can be captured without any loss of resolution."
Samsung argues that telephoto cameras can benefit tremendously from ultra high-res 200MP sensors
Needless to say, Samsung is of the opinion that its own 200MP camera sensors will be particularly suited for said high-res lossless zoom task:
In particular, the 200MP ISOCELL HP2 and ISOCELL HP3 improve zoomed shooting quality by applying a deep-learning-based remosaic algorithm that better enables the expression of scene-optimized details. Additionally, with flagship application processors (APs) like the Snapdragon Mobile Platform, adopting internals that favor parallel computation, such as digital signal processors (DSPs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), has created synergy and significantly improved image quality.
Will the Galaxy S23 Ultra get Samsung's 200MP telephoto camera?
Whether stung by Apple's release of its first iPhone 15 Pro Max handset with 5x folded optics zoom, or by the fact that companies like Oppo are matching 50MP cameras across the trio of main, ultrawide, and zoom cameras, Samsung has apparently decided to one up everybody in pure resolution count again.
It remains to be seen how this plays out as when Samsung teases some novel camera technology or sensor we see it deployed in phones a few months later, usually in phones by Xiaomi or BBK (Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus) used as a testbed.
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A Galaxy S24 Ultra with a 200MP main and 200MP telephoto camera would certainly be a giant leap forward for smartphone photography, too, and offset the iPhone 15 Pro Max lure somewhat, yet Samsung stayed mum over the exact deployment timeframe of its ultra high-res telephoto zoom camera sensor idea.
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Daniel, a devoted tech writer at PhoneArena since 2010, has been engrossed in mobile technology since the Windows Mobile era. His expertise spans mobile hardware, software, and carrier networks, and he's keenly interested in the future of digital health, car connectivity, and 5G. Beyond his professional pursuits, Daniel finds balance in travel, reading, and exploring new tech innovations, while contemplating the ethical and privacy implications of our digital future.
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