What you need to know
- A user on South Korea’s Samsung community forum reports a “blurry” issue with the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s telephoto lens.
- The report says that the image blurs at 3x zoom and the problem is software, not hardware.
- Samsung confirmed the user and many other reports that a fix is in the works, though it’s not clear when it will arrive.
A report from South Korea claims that the Galaxy S26 Ultra has a problematic camera issue that causes problems for close-up shots.
The issue has drawn attention Mojo trick after a user posted defective telephoto samples on a South Korean Samsung forum (Via SammyGuru). User specifically calls out S26 Ultra’s 3x telephoto zoom shifter in its report. Their report states (machine translation) “The image quality was particularly poor at 3x zoom when it was bright, and I thought it was just my imagination, but when I turned on the flash and filmed in the dark, it was very clear…”
They add that photos taken when using the 3x zoom modifier are “blurry” and report that many others in Samsung’s Members program are reporting similar issues. Thinking it was a hardware problem, the user took the phone to a repair center. They were told that the problem was not with the phone’s camera, which led them to the next best thing: software.
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Going on, the user said they sent the relevant logs to Samsung’s support and the company acknowledged the issue. Samsung says the issue is “planned to be fixed and improved in a future software update.” However, he stressed that patience will be needed, meaning there is no clear indication of when it will come. It can be in April, May or June.
Camera Story
This report is a shame, as the user noted, “It’s absurd that the camera function is downgraded on a new phone that I bought for over 2 million won.” After getting their hands on it, Android Central’s Nicholas Sutrich compared the Galaxy S26 Ultra camera for the competition. On the surface, it looks like Samsung hasn’t done much, but a closer look reveals the truth. According to Nick, “The Google Pixel 10 The Pro XL and iPhone 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, often match the color accuracy and optimal exposure of the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but lack the fine details produced by the Samsung camera.”
On the other hand, like my colleague Harish Jonnalagadda, if you look at the broader Android ecosystem, Samsung’s still lags behind many Chinese competitors. Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Pixel 10 series and appleiPhone 17, Vivo and other models of Xiaomi beat it in photography and videography.
Android Central’s Take
Strangely, Samsung has this software issue specifically for the 3x zoom on the Galaxy S26 Ultra telephoto. Even users’ photos show the huge difference in clarity between 3x, 5x and even 1x. I understand the frustration though. The S26 Ultra is over $1,200 in the States, and with that comes a heavy dose of “this should work as I expect.” When you don’t, then you start having problems and spreading mistrust. The good thing here is that Samsung is aware of this. Bad thing? How long should we wait for a fix?
