Samsung has filed a trademark for the term “Space Zoom”, hinting that it has big plans for its next flagship, the fabled Galaxy S20 phone.
The news was first spotted by SamMobile which noticed the trademark on the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) website yesterday. The news backs up an earlier rumour the the Galaxy S11 currently has the internal codename “Galileo”.
News that Samsung may have codenamed its next flagship Galileo broke earlier this week. Many took the codename to refer to an enhanced zoom functionality, given the famous scientist of the same name’s association with astrology and telescopes. None of this has been confirmed by Samsung.
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Enhanced zoom is one of many fabled features expected to appear on Samsung’s next flagship. Prior speculation suggested it could also include Samsung’s new 108-megapixel camera sensor.
The sensor was unveiled earlier this year and launched on the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 this week. The sensor is a competitor to the 48-megapixel unit used in many 2019 flagships, including the OnePlus 7T Pro.
It uses pixel binning tech to combine four pixels into one, in a bid to improve low light performance. We were impressed how it performed during our hands-on with the Xiaomi Mi Note 10, but haven’t had a chance to thoroughly put it through its paces yet.
The only other semi credible information we’ve seen suggests it will run on Samsung’s, currently unconfirmed, next generation Exynos CPU outside of the US.
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Whether the rumours are true or not, it’d be good to see Samsung up its photography game next year. The Galaxy S10 is a stellar handset with a good rear camera, but it’s not industry leading by a long shot.
The Huawei Mate 30 Pro, Google Pixel 4 and Apple iPhone 11 all offer better rear cameras that beat the Galaxy S10’s in key areas including low light, macro and portrait image quality.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.