GoKawiilRobert Triggs / Android Authority
Samsung has used 200MP main cameras on its Ultra phones for several years now, dating back to 2023’s Galaxy S23 Ultra. This enables benefits like 200MP full-resolution snaps and higher-quality cropped zoom.
The recently launched Galaxy S26 Ultra maintains the 200MP primary camera, albeit with a wider aperture. However, I can’t help but think Samsung is using the 200MP sensor on the wrong camera. Here’s why.
Should Samsung offer a 200MP sensor on the 1x or tele camera? 240 votes On the 1x camera 34 % On the telephoto camera 66 %
When are 200MP main cameras good?
Paul Jones / Android Authority
There are a few benefits to having a phone with a 200MP main camera. One upside is that you can shoot full-resolution 1x photos and still get detailed crops after the fact. That’s handy if you’d like to get a 2x or 3x crop from your 1x photo without a huge loss in image quality.
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Another upside of 200MP main cameras is that they enable good-quality 2x to 4x shots via lossless-resolution zoom. That’s because the sensor has so many pixels that even cropping to 4x still leaves you with a ~12MP photo that hasn’t been upscaled. This zoom capability is particularly great for mid-range phones without a telephoto camera. It means cheaper phones can still offer decent or even good 2x to 4x images. And I’m all about improved camera zoom.
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