5 ways the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra can redefine the camera phone in 2026

I’ve tried the best phone cameras in 2025 - here's what the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra needs to bring to the table in 2026 Features (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) Oppo Find X9 Pro camera module(Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future) (Image credit: Apple/Future) (Image credit: Jamie Richards / Future) (Image credit: Tim Coleman) (Image credit: Future / Roland Moore-Colyer) Color point selfie(Image credit: Nirave Gondhia) Normal selfie(Image credit: Nirave Gondhia) Nirave Gondhia published It's time for Samsung to redefine the Ultra, in more ways than one I’ve been writing about phones for almost 20 years, and 2025 will remain in the memory for years to come as the year that most phone makers delivered their very best camera phones . Over the past 12 months, I’ve used every major smartphone camera, starting with the Galaxy S25 Ultra , which launched back in January. Samsung was the second phone brand to make zoom a key part of its cameras - Huawei did so first on its P-series - but while it once had a significant advantage over its key competitors, that advantage has mostly eroded. This year saw Apple and Google both make significant improvements to the zoom capabilities of the iPhone 17 Pro and Google Pixel 10 Pro series, respectively. And outside the US, companies like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor all reinforced that the US market has far fewer great camera phones than the rest of the world. With Samsung set to launch the Galaxy S26 Ultra in the coming months, and its key rivals expected to bring their respective Ultra phones to global markets, next year could be an even bigger year for smartphone cameras. So, here’s what the next Galaxy S26 Ultra needs to bring to the table in 2026. Better processing at 100x zoom Depending on your preferences, the Galaxy S25 Ultra either has the best zoom camera, or it doesn’t. The 100x zoom camera hasn’t evolved much over the past two years, though it’s still more stable than the competition. It still takes impressive photos, too, but its new rivals arguably take better ones. However, this is firmly subjective, as the majority of that competition - especially devices from manufacturers outside the US - rely heavily on AI to deliver their respective zoom capabilities, which can lead to artifacts in the resulting images. Yet, the Pixel 10 Pro proves you can use AI processing effectively while still keeping an image that blends the best of AI with the natural detail captured by the camera. The Galaxy S26 Ultra will almost certainly be the best zoom camera Samsung has made yet. Still, I’d like to see the company evolve its AI approach at the highest zoom levels to ensure it can keep up with the competition. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. A redefined dual zoom lens setup As part of its resolve to improve zoom performance, I think it’s time for Samsung to evolve the two lenses...

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