24MP won't be the Galaxy S26 Ultra camera's default resolution

The Galaxy S26 series is launching next month, and most details about the design and hardware of the phones in the lineup have leaked already. The Galaxy S26 Ultra, which will be the star of the show, will not bring major camera hardware improvements. However, it can reportedly capture 24MP images, but it won't be the phone's default resolution.

Tipster @UniverseIce has revealed that the 24MP resolution option on the Galaxy S26 Ultra has to be enabled via the Camera Assistant app. It will be visible at the top of the screen in the app's Advanced Resolution Options section. Once enabled, this new resolution will be available in both Photo and Portrait modes of the default Camera app. It is similar to the 24MP option that debuted with the iPhone 15 series.

Apparently, it isn't the same as the 24MP option in the Expert RAW app that is already available. Instead, it is designed for daily usage and offers very clean images with higher details. It also overcomes Expert RAW issues, such as oversharpening and purple fringing.

Processing 24MP images on the Galaxy S26 Ultra will reportedly take up to three seconds. However, all the processing is said to happen parallelly in the background and won't cause any lag in the camera app.

This feature will be exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Ultra and won't be released to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, even though both phones use the same ISOCELL HP2 camera hardware. Apparently, Samsung is keeping it exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Ultra to force people to upgrade to a newer phone.