Galaxy S20 Lights a New Path for Photography with High Resolution Sensors and Space Zoom Technology

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Whether you’re in poor lighting or your subject is too far away, sometimes getting the perfect photo just isn’t possible without the right equipment. To solve this, the Galaxy S20’s camera seamlessly combines a cutting-edge camera hardware system with AI-powered software technology, so you never compromise on quality—or simplicity. It changes the way you capture and goes beyond the moment you point and shoot to change every aspect of your camera experience. Here’s an up-close look at the new technology behind the Galaxy S20’s camera.

Capture with Crystal Clarity: 108MP/64MP High Resolution

More resolution means more details. The Galaxy S20’s camera offers super-high resolution, so you can capture the details every time.  The Galaxy S20 Ultra features a 108MP sensor, while the S20 and S20+ feature a 64MP sensor. Although cropping a shot used to mean losing details, with the high-resolution sensors on the Galaxy S20 you have plenty of resolution to crop and still get crisp, clear images.

It all starts with a fundamental change to the sensor architecture, both in terms of the size of the image sensor and the technology incorporated within. The larger sensors take in more light, so you get rich image quality even in low light situations.

The S20 Ultra takes things a step further with the 108MP sensor which switches between nona-binning and re-mosaic technologies to provide images with more clarity even in very low light or bright environments.

• Nona-binning for superior image quality: Nona-binning technology merges nine pixels into one, so the 108MP sensor provides a 12MP photo. Larger pixels produced by the nona-binning technology can capture more light for improved clarity, even in low light conditions.

• Re-mosaic in bright light conditions: Re-mosaic re-arranges color pixels to bring out more details. The re-mosaic algorithm remaps pixels into a conventional RGB pattern, producing more detailed images in bright light conditions. You can easily switch to the 108MP Mode in the Quick Settings menu: Camera > Photo > Ratio > 108MP.

See Further, See Better: Space Zoom with Telephoto Lens

The Galaxy S20’s Space Zoom technology uses a combination of Hybrid Optic Zoom, and super resolution zoom technology which includes AI multi-frame processing (AI-powered digital zoom) to ensure that even when you are far away, you can zoom in close.

The Galaxy S20’s new Hybrid Optic Zoom combines an advanced high-resolution image sensor with an all new lens, which is designed to provide more value to users than traditional optical zoom does. Thanks to this new technology, the Galaxy S20 and S20+ can achieve 3x Hybrid Optic Zoom, while the Galaxy S20 Ultra can achieve 10x Hybrid Optic Zoom. With AI-powered digital zoom, you can see even further, up to 30x on the S20 and S20+ and up to 100x on the S20 Ultra.

To achieve 100x zoom, the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s uses a folded lens and a high-resolution sensor. The folded lens provides up to 10x Hybrid Optic Zoom, while super zoom resolution technology brings an additional 10x zoom with AI multi-frame processing to reduce hand shaking and quality loss at high zoom levels. Images produced are clear thanks to the combination of the lens optics and a sensor crop on the high-resolution sensor.

• 48MP Sensor: The sensor on the S20 Ultra is a 48MP sensor which switches between tetra-binning and re-mosaic depending on the shooting conditions, such as brightness level or zoom ratio. Tetra-binning combines 4 pixels into 1, resulting in a 12MP photo with larger pixels. When the RGB pixels are re-arranged with the re-mosaic technology, each pixel operates independently to use a sensor crop and provides up to 10x high ratio zoom.

• Folded lens: The Galaxy S20 Ultra leverages a folded zoom lens to squeeze more zoom capability into a small space. The lens lays flat and is positioned at the bottom of the camera on the phone. Light coming in from the back of the phone is redirected by a prism into the lens, refracting to the right at a 90-degree angle through a series of stacked optical elements which increases the focal length, much like the way a periscope works.  Cutting down both the height and width of the camera, we are able to deliver groundbreaking zoom capabilities.