Samsung is using a new 3x telephoto camera in the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which appears to be an intelligent upgrade. The sensor is actually a 12-megapixel solution, but the device trimmed it down to 10-megapixel with reduced size.

Judging from the spec sheet proves that Samsung has downgraded the 3x telephoto camera of the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but the reality seems different. Some recent posts on X let us have an even better idea of the potential benefits.

Samsung did not shrink the camera, but changed the philosophy behind it. The new 3x module built around the ISOCELL 3LD is less about raw glass and more about high-speed silicon.

12MP to 10MP – Why couldn’t it be a downgrade?

The ISOCELL 3LD is natively a 12MP sensor with a 1/3.2 inch optical format. On paper, that sounds larger than the effective 1/3.94 inch number being circulated.

Samsung is only using the center 10 megapixels for the final image. When you crop to the middle portion of a sensor, the diagonal of the active area becomes smaller.

In optics, the diagonal defines the optical format. Shorter diagonal, “smaller” format number. That is how we land at 1/3.94 inch (via ErencanYılmaz), but this is not a lost area; it is a controlled area – as debunked by MyDaebakCafe.

Samsung still outputs a 12MP file to match the main and ultrawide cameras. Multi-frame fusion and intelligent upscaling bring resolution consistency across lenses.

Courtesy – Daebak 앤디

Integrated DRAM and AI ISP

The real upgrade is not the crop, it is the 3 stack architecture. The ISOCELL 3LD features integrated DRAM, which grabs the image before your subject moves. It reduces rolling shutter artifacts and freezes motion in 3x portraits.

Now pair that with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and its AI ISP. The sensor is engineered to feed massive amounts of data into the ISP in real time. A larger but slower sensor cannot compete if it cannot deliver data quickly enough for the ISP to chew on.

The phone can shift the crop window within that 12MP canvas while still delivering a clean 10MP base frame, later processed into a 12MP output for consistency. The result is gimbal-like stabilization at 3x without sacrificing 4k resolution.

This also contributes to better HDR stacking and near-zero shutter lag, since the sensor and DRAM can rapidly capture multiple frames before you even realize you tapped the shutter.

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