What you need to know
- A user on the South Korean Samsung community forum reports a "blurry" issue with the Galaxy S26 Ultra's telephoto lens.
- The report says that, at 3x zoom, the image becomes blurry, and the problem isn't hardware, it's software.
- Samsung has acknowledged the user and many other reports, stating a fix is in the works, though it's unclear when it will arrive.
A report from South Korea states that the Galaxy S26 Ultra has a troubling camera issue that's becoming problematic for up-close shots.
The issue was spotted by Mojo Trick after a user posted instances of glitchy telephoto instances on the South Korean Samsung forum (Via SammyGuru). The user specifically calls out the S26 Ultra's 3x telephoto zoom modifier in their report. Their report says (machine-translated) "When it was bright, the image quality was particularly off with the 3x zoom, and I thought it was just my imagination, but when I turned on the flash and filmed in the dark, it was very obvious..."
They add that photos taken while using the 3x zoom modifier become "blurry," stating many others across Samsung's Members app are reporting similar issues. The user, believing it to be a hardware issue, took their phone to a repair center. They were informed that the problem isn't coming from the phone's camera, leading them to the next best conclusion: software.
Continuing, the user says they sent the appropriate logs to Samsung's support, and the company has acknowledged the issue. Samsung states the issue "is scheduled to be fixed and improved in a future software update." However, it stressed that patience would be necessary, meaning there's no clear indication as to when this will arrive. It could be in April, or in May, or in June.
The Camera Story
This report is a shame, as the user points out, "it is absurd that the camera function has been downgraded on a new phone I bought for over 2 million won." After getting his hands on it, Android Central's Nicholas Sutrich compared the Galaxy S26 Ultra's camera to the competition. On the surface, it seems Samsung hadn't done much, but the truth surfaces when you look closer. According to Nick, "The Google Pixel 10 Pro XL and iPhone 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, often match the color accuracy and optimal exposure of the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but tend to lack the fine detail that Samsung's camera produces."
On the other hand, if you were to look at the wider Android ecosystem, as my colleague Harish Jonnalagadda did, you'd know that Samsung still lags behind many Chinese competitors. While Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra outshines the Pixel 10 series and Apple's iPhone 17, other models from Vivo and Xiaomi beat it in photography and videography.
Android Central's Take
It's weird that Samsung has this software issue for the 3x zoom specifically on the Galaxy S26 Ultra's telephoto. Even the users photo shows the sheer difference in clarity between 3x, 5x, and even 1x. I can understand the frustration, though. In the states, the S26 Ultra is over $1,200, and with that comes a heavy dose of "this should work how I expect it to." When it doesn't, that's when you start having problems and sowing distrust. The good thing here is that Samsung knows about it. The bad thing? How long will we have to wait for the fix?
