Galaxy S-series has evolved with high-quality camera specs, especially the Ultra lineup. However, in the most recent editions, Samsung showed a mediocre approach rather than innovation. On that note, the Galaxy S27 Ultra has a chance to undo Samsung’s past mistakes, such as using the 200MP camera the right way.

The Galaxy S-series has rapidly changed since the S9 era, which introduced only two 12MP sensors. Next comes the Galaxy S10+, which added a telephoto sensor.

However, the S20 Ultra took a major leap with its 108MP camera and 48MP telephoto. Samsung maintained the 108MP camera but added dual-telephoto lenses in the next two generations.

Now comes the 200MP, the Galaxy S23 Ultra switched to this new sensor, bringing more resolution and a wider aperture for brighter images. This camera has been praised industry-wide, and it was worth the upgrade that Samsung promoted.

In the next version, Samsung gave the telephoto a 50MP sensor with 5X optical zoom. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25 Ultra brought a 50MP camera, but the rest of the sensors remained unchanged. The most recent S26 Ultra rebranded the main sensor with an even larger f1.4 aperture, and it really worked well for low-light photos and videos.

The progress of the main sensor ranges from 12MP > 108MP > 200MP. Now, the 200MP has become a standard for the Galaxy Ultra devices. Still, each of the past flagship models offers a 12MP mode by default. That means, the majority of the time, you are capturing images with this resolution until you change it manually.

The point here is that Samsung really improved the way you take photos with the camera using a larger aperture, without using the 200MP resolution.

iPhone 17 Pro uses a 48MP main camera, and it offers a 24MP default resolution. Most importantly, it processes those 24MP shots with lightning speed. The Galaxy S26 Ultra does offer a 24MP camera, but you have to enable it separately via Camera Assistant.

Another fact the image quality of Galaxy S26 Ultra lags behind iPhone 17 Pro Max in color composition and dynamic range. So, what’s the point in using the 200MP main camera, while you can achieve the same results with a 50MP sensor?

Telephoto

That leaves us to the other way around – Zoom. The evolution to 50MP is praiseworthy, but it’s no longer the industry standard. The recent jump to the ALoP sensor confirms that Samsung has changed its way from the periscope used in the S25 Ultra.

This approach saves internal space inside the frame, but it still offers the same pixel quality as the predecessor. Basically, the zoom quality hasn’t moved a bit. That’s where the perspective changes.

Nowadays, Chinese smartphone companies are streamlining the 200MP telephoto camera and not the main camera. In fact, they don’t even bother about putting this many pixels in the wide lens.

The Vivo X300 Pro has a 50MP main, 50MP ultra wide angle, and a 200MP telephoto zoom with a larger f2.67 aperture. Combining lossless zoom with a larger aperture generates bright and high-quality zoomed shots. Xiaomi 17 Ultra takes the same approach but with an even larger f2.39 aperture. What to notice is that Xiaomi has employed Samsung’s HPE image sensor.

Oppo went for a more dynamic approach; its Find X9 Ultra brings dual 200MP cameras, one is the main sensor with a f1.5 aperture and a f2.2 aperture telephoto sensor. That’s not it, it has a secondary 50MP ultra telephoto camera with f/3.5 aperture.

Phone reviewers loved the thing that Oppo did with this phone, from main to ultrawide, to its exceptional telephoto quality; the Find X9 Ultra brings everything to the table.

Conclusion

Samsung has tried the 200MP sensor for the main camera, but it failed to awe the users, especially in 2026. On the other hand, the competition is evolving, like Chinese phone makers, which continue to make a good example of how the 200MP could be used in a flagship.

Other than that, iPhone is also showing that it doesn’t need those bulky numbers. Instead, you can get exceptional camera quality with a 48MP camera setup.

So, there are two things Samsung can do to align with the current competition. First, the Galaxy S27 Ultra can retain the 200MP main camera and introduce a 200MP telephoto. If size is a concern, it can remove the 200MP main camera with a 50MP sensor and put it behind the telephoto camera.

Either way, Samsung can offer a real telephoto camera experience with the Galaxy S27 Ultra by using the 200MP where it belongs. Will Samsung play safe or come up with a challenge to competitors? We’ll find out.

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