Ryan Haines / Android Authority
We’re officially a few days into 2026, and most people are busy making (or maybe already breaking) their New Year’s resolutions. I, on the other hand, am preoccupied with a different type of resolution: camera resolution. Alright, that was a terrible way to jump into my topic, but I’ll stand by it because it’s true.
What I really mean is that the things we can do with modern smartphone cameras are downright remarkable. We can take telephoto-zoomed macro shots, insert ourselves into images in-camera, and even reimagine the sky if we’re stuck on a gray, cloudy day. However, one thing seems to get worse with every attempt to improve it, and I think we need to step back.
It’s time to leave AI-powered camera zoom in 2025, and here’s why.
I’m all for long-range camera zoom, but…
Tushar Mehta / Android Authority
Listen — I think it’s great that smartphone cameras can now zoom in up to 100x at the press of a button, or rather the pinch of some fingers. I thought it was impressive when Samsung introduced it, and it was the whole reason my dad bought (and kept) the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra right up until its battery couldn’t last a day. I was also surprised when OnePlus decided to push the limit to 120x zoom on the OnePlus Open, but its partnership with Hasselblad delivered on that promise.
There was, of course, a healthy dose of digital processing at play — I wouldn’t expect a 1/2.0-inch 64MP telephoto sensor to tackle that kind of range by itself — but it felt like we’d found the sweet spot. Details at maximum range were decent, yet believable given the hardware they were taken on. Now, though, I feel like we’ve taken that sweet spot and kept pushing until it’s unbelievable — and not in a good way.
I want reality, not AI-generated details.
For example, OnePlus’s new flagship, the OnePlus 15, offers 120x zoom, just like its predecessor, the OnePlus 13. The new phone, however, has a much smaller telephoto sensor that handles the heavy lifting. It dropped from a 1/1.95-inch sensor to a 1/2.76-inch sensor, reducing megapixels and increasing optical zoom from 3x to 3.5x. So, what had to change for the zoom to (hopefully) stay the same? OnePlus had to rely on its new DetailMax Engine for processing, along with a substantial dose of AI.
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