Samsung's Galaxy S27 Ultra camera redesign could come with one big loss

Published Sep 29, 2026, 3:20 AM EDT Sanuj is a freelance tech journalist with over six years of experience covering smartphones, wearables, and consumer technology. He currently writes for Android Police, Tom's Guide, Android Central, Android Authority, and Pocket-lint. He has previously contributed to publications like Pocketnow and MakeUseOf. Since the start of 2025 alone, he has tested over 30 smartphones. He has also attended major global trade shows including MWC (2024, 2025, 2026) and IFA (2024, 2025), along with launch events hosted by Google, Samsung, and other leading Android brands. When he's not writing about tech, you'll find him sipping a cup of chai, scrolling Twitter, and reading updates about his favorite football club, Chelsea FC. Feel free to reach out to him via email at sanujb6 [at] gmail [dot] com. Sign in to your Android Police account Samsung will reportedly get rid of the dedicated 3x telephoto camera on the Galaxy S27 Ultra. It's been over six months since the Samsung Galaxy S26 series launched, which means it's time for Galaxy S27 leaks to start picking up. We've already seen leaked renders of the Galaxy S27 Ultra, which suggest Samsung could take some inspiration from Apple by moving to a horizontal camera module on its next flagship. And now, a new leak has revealed more details about the upcoming Ultra, claiming Samsung could get rid of one of the zoom cameras it has used on Galaxy S Ultra phones for years. According to leaker Ice Universe on X, Samsung will drop the dedicated 3x telephoto camera from the Galaxy S27 Ultra. The leaked renders had already suggested something was changing, showing only three rear cameras instead of the four we've become used to seeing on recent Ultra models. The dedicated 3x zoom camera could be going away The latest leak claims Samsung will instead rely on just the 5x telephoto camera for optical zoom. This means the Galaxy S27 Ultra will reportedly jump directly from the 1x main camera to the 5x telephoto when switching between dedicated lenses. You'll still get a 2x crop zoom using the main sensor, but there apparently won't be a dedicated 3x camera anymore. According to the leak, the main camera will continue to use the ISOCELL HP6 sensor, which is essentially a customized version of Samsung's HPC sensor. The 5x telephoto camera will reportedly remain largely unchanged as well, including the same f/2.9 aperture. But while the hardware may be losing a camera, Samsung is reportedly making some noticeable changes to image processing. The leaker, in a separate post, also adds that Samsung is changing the overall color tuning on the Galaxy S27 Ultra, moving away from the slightly cooler look of the Galaxy S26 Ultra in favor of warmer tones. Samsung is also reportedly improving how the phone handles small and bright objects. According to the leaker, this improvement is visible on both the main and 5x telephoto cameras, with the Galaxy S27 Ultra doing a better job of controlling these small but intense highlights across both sensors. Finally, Samsung is said to have improved processing in darker areas as well. The Galaxy S27 Ultra will reportedly produce less noise in shadows, with images looking cleaner and smoother overall. Of course, we're still months away from the Galaxy S27 Ultra launch, so plenty could change before Samsung finalizes things. But if this leak tells us anything, prepare to say goodbye to the dedicated 3x zoom camera on the Galaxy S27 Ultra.