Samsung’s next big camera upgrades could completely skip over the Note 10
A series of leaks has now indicated that the Samsung Galaxy S20 will come packed with improved camera specs — but it’s looking like the Note 10 will miss out.
The Galaxy S20 has been rumoured to include an upgraded sensor and 5x optical zoom − that’s according to the prolific tipster Ice Universe. But this big upgrade is reportedly going to skip over the Samsung Galaxy Note 10, which might make the upcoming launch a bit of a damp squib − at least, for any consumers who were hoping for big camera improvements.
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The slated new sensor should be capable of capturing even more detailed images than the current sensor, replacing the 1/2.55-inch 1.4um CMOS currently present on the Galaxy S10 and the Galaxy Note 9. It’ unclear why the Note 10 will apparently miss out on this upgrade, but we’re looking forward to seeing it in action with the S20.
The second improvement that Samsung has in the pipeline is optical zoom. This doesn’t come as a surprise, because we’ve noticed big advances being made in this area from the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro and the OnePlus 7 Pro.
But what is surprising is that the 5x optical zoom is also expected to skip over the Galaxy Note 10, and is more likely to be found on the A series. This would put the Note at a significant disadvantage compared to its flagship competitors.
IceUniverse has also claimed that Samsung has developed a 10x optical zoom, though it sounds this tech is likely to stay on the workbench; adding this feature to your smartphone would make it unreasonably thick and, perhaps understandably, it appears that Samsung has decided against releasing it for now.
These latest leaks have given us plenty of food for thought, but also serve as an advance notice — the Note 10 camera is unlikely to change much from the S10, so if photography is your priority it might not be worth upgrading just yet.
We have to hope Samsung has got other tricks up its sleeve to make sure the Note 10 launch goes off with a bang rather than a whimper.