The latest Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra came with an array of four lenses with a primary, ultrawide, periscope telephoto, and a secondary telephoto shooter on the rear side. This iconic camera layout goes all the way back to the Galaxy S20 Ultra, so it was surprising to hear rumors about the Galaxy S26 Ultra ditching one of the lenses in the future.
Samsung plans to make a few unconventional changes to next year’s Ultra flagship device, and people have some mixed feelings on the subject. The company initially faced a backlash for removing the S-Pen’s Bluetooth functionality this year, but people eventually came to accept it. This might happen again after Samsung removes one of the lenses from the S26 Ultra.
A new rumor claims that the Galaxy S26 Ultra will have three rear-facing cameras instead of the typical four lenses we see on these models. According to the report, a prototype Galaxy S26 Ultra is in the testing phase right now, which seems to carry three massive sensors: a 50 MP Ultrawide, a 200MP Main lens, and a 200MP 4x optical zoom sensor.
We’ve seen the massive 200MP zoom camera in action before on the Vivo X200 Pro and Xiaomi 15 Ultra, and it requires plenty of room to be installed. So, the absence of the secondary telephoto makes sense. Previous rumors about the Samsung's Ultra new model bringing back the variable aperture also align with the latest report.
Back in 2018, when Samsung launched the Galaxy S9 and S9+, the “Variable Aperture” was a game changer. Even the Galaxy S10 series had an f/1.5 to f/2.4 hard variable aperture a year later, but Samsung decided to pull the plug on this feature later. Ice Universe says that the variable aperture will be implemented again on the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Main sensor.
By removing the second telephoto, Samsung might have freed enough space on the new device for a bigger battery. This alleged S26 Ultra prototype has a stacked 5500mAh cell instead of the basic 5000mAh we are accustomed to seeing on these models.
Another rumor points out that Samsung might be planning to switch to a larger 6000mAh cell using the new Si/C anode technology. Of course, these details remain unconfirmed from the brand. As usual, we’ll wait for more sources to corroborate the story. Until then, stay tuned for more news.