Galaxy S24 Ultra could take all your money while giving you fewer cameras

Samsung released its best camera phone ever in the form of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. It has four rear-facing cameras, each featuring autofocus and capable of recording 4K 60fps videos. Two of those are telephoto cameras, offering zoom reach that no rival phone can match. However, the Galaxy S24 Ultra could give you fewer cameras while still being pricey.

According to tipster Ice Universe, it is rumored that the Galaxy S24 Ultra could have just three rear-facing cameras instead of four on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. The South Korean firm could drop one of its telephoto cameras and use just one zoom camera. According to the information on the internet, the Galaxy S24 Ultra could lack a 3x zoom camera. It will reportedly still feature a 10x zoom camera.

Galaxy S24 Ultra could ditch the 3x telephoto camera

So, why could Samsung be ditching its 3x telephoto camera? Well, one of the reasons could be using a continuous periscope zoom lens that can zoom from 3x to 10x, similar to the telephoto camera module that LG showcased sometime last year. It could mean that a single telephoto camera on the Galaxy S24 Ultra could do the job of both zoom cameras on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Moreover, such a continuous zoom camera can offer much better image quality with intermediate zoom ranges like 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x, 8x, and 9x, which isn't possible with the current camera setup.

The other possibility is that Samsung is confident enough of its 200MP primary camera to offer 3x digital zoom, which is as good as 3x optical zoom on the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Whatever the case, one less camera on the rear could offer a cleaner design on the rear and reduce some clutter.