Samsung needs to stop keeping the best cameras exclusive to one phone

No matter which flagship Samsung Galaxy smartphone you pick up, you're guaranteed an excellent camera experience. However, for the absolute best cameras that Samsung has to offer, you need to buy a Galaxy S Ultra flagship.

The periscope camera enabling high-range zoom, in particular, is something that separates the Galaxy S Ultras from other Samsung flagships, including the considerably costlier Galaxy Z Fold lineup. For the first three Galaxy Z Folds, Samsung used an embarrassing 2x zoom camera, and on the fourth model, you get 3x zoom, which is also found on Galaxy phones that cost less than half of what you have to pay for a Galaxy Z Fold.

Now I don't know if Samsung does this to save costs or if it doesn't think people buy foldables for the best cameras. But after the Pixel Fold's official announcement today, I really think Samsung needs to stop this exclusivity and bring the camera experience on the Z Fold line up to par with what you can get on a Galaxy S22 Ultra or Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Galaxy Z Fold lineup doesn't have camera setup worthy of $1,799 price tag

Because, again, it's frustrating that the Galaxy Z Fold 4's zooming capabilities are no different than what you get on a $699 Galaxy S21 FE or the even cheaper Galaxy A72. Samsung is asking a premium price for Galaxy Z Fold smartphones but doesn't give you the best of what it has to offer, and some of us are left sticking to its candybar flagships as a result even though we would love to make the jump to a foldable.

Of course, it would also be great if Samsung could make that cover display on Galaxy Z Fold smartphones wider. But if the company wants to take it one step at a time, I would prefer it first fix the camera setup. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 will be the device that brings either of those changes, and that's making me wonder if I should just grab a Pixel Fold instead.

And I'm willing to bet other Samsung fans will be thinking the same thing. The Pixel Fold will no doubt sell much less than the Galaxy Z Fold 5 (or the Galaxy Z Fold 4, which could see increased sales if its price drops after the Z Fold 5 is released), but still, the fact that it addresses two of the biggest shortcomings of Samsung foldables could see enough people lining up to buy one.