Samsung's next flagship camera phone - the Galaxy S25 Ultra - is almost with us, but rumors are already circulating surrounding what camera hardware its successor, the Galaxy S26 Ultra, could be packing. The latest tip from renowned leakster Digital Chat Station suggests Samsung may be working on a new 200MP periscope telephoto module, which could potentially see service in the S26 Ultra. The S25 Ultra will supposedly include a 10MP sensor for its 3x telephoto module, and a 50MP sensor in its 5x periscope telephoto camera. That kind of camera array will likely delivery excellent image quality, but on paper it lags behind other flagship phones that have already been with us for several months.
Phones like the Vivo X100 Ultra, Vivo X200 Pro, and Honor Magic7 Pro all feature 200MP telephoto cameras, and the sensor they use is actually Samsung's own ISOCELL HP9: a 1/1.4-inch chip specifically designed for use in telephoto modules. It seems Samsung won't be using its own 200MP chip in the Galaxy S25 Ultra, for reasons we don't yet know. What's more, according to this new tip from DCS, it might not even use the HP9 in the S26 Ultra. Instead, the tip claims Samsung is working on a new 200MP sensor which will be slightly smaller than the HP9, measuring 1/1.5-inches.
It's possible this reduction in sensor size could be to facilitate a longer telephoto lens with greater zoom magnification, while still keeping within the strict confines of a camera phone's restricted chassis thickness. But whatever the reasoning for this design, there'll likely be strong demand for significantly improved camera hardware in the S26 Ultra, after several generations of hardware stagnation in Samsung's flagship phones, with the Korean phone giant instead relying on processing and AI to improve image quality.
