nullSamsung made the lenses bigger on the S26 Ultra. In camera terms, that means wider apertures, which means better low-light photos.
The main camera change:
The 200MP primary camera went from f/1.7 to f/1.4. Samsung says it lets in 47% more light. That's a significant improvement.
What does more light mean in practice? Clearer indoor photos. Better evening shots. Less blur because the camera can use faster shutter speeds. Sharper detail in challenging lighting.
The telephoto improvement:
The 5x zoom camera moved from f/3.4 to f/2.9. Samsung claims 37% more light.
This matters because telephoto lenses typically struggle in low light. When you're zooming in at night, the S25 Ultra often struggled. The S26 Ultra handles these situations noticeably better.
What stayed the same:
The ultrawide keeps its f/1.9 aperture, already good. The 3x telephoto stays at f/2.4. Samsung focused improvements where they were needed most.
Why you can't just update your old phone:
Aperture is hardware. It's the physical size of the lens opening. No software update can make your S25 Ultra's f/1.7 lens act like an f/1.4 lens.
Other camera improvements:
Samsung fixed the noise problem S25 Ultra users complained about—weird distortion when shooting the sky in low light. New processing algorithms produce cleaner images. The faster Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 means Night mode processes faster too.
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How we researched this
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