Big Shock: Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra Camera Updates Have a Ton of AI

Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra is here, packing a wealth of upgrades from the design to its fancy new Privacy Display which aims to keep people from spying on whatever shady things you're up to on your commute. But the Ultra range has always been where Samsung has unleashed its latest, greatest camera technology, so let's take a closer look at what's new for the photographers among you.

In terms of hardware, not a lot has changed. The main camera's resolution is 200-megapixels, there's a 50-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera, and 10-megapixel 3x telephoto and 50-megapixel 5x telephoto cameras too. Those specs are the same as the previous S25 Ultra, so those of you hoping for a wild overhaul of the cameras to keep pace with Xiaomi's upcoming 17 Ultra may be disappointed.

But there have been some tweaks. The main and ultrawide cameras have wider apertures now which will help capture more light which should be especially useful in low light situations. In fact, Samsung especially highlighted the improved performance of night mode imagery for both stills and video, with the night video mode employing more advanced software processing for noise reduction and improved colors.

Speaking of video, it'll still shoot in 8K but it also supports Log codecs with built-in LUTs (which are what cinema pros call filters, essentially) which should make the phones more appealing to serious video creators. To show the phone means business, Samsung took a leaf out of Apple's playbook and filmed and livestreamed its San Francisco launch event using the S26 Ultra.

There's also a feature called Horizon Lock, which aims to keep the horizon level while shooting video no matter how you twist and turn your phone. This kind of stabilization exists in action cameras already and it can be helpful for filming intense action, like if you're running to keep up as you're filming your friend skateboarding.

But because it's 2026 and AI is the word to rule us all, many of the major updates come in the form of generative AI. It's built deep into the camera experience, allowing you to use natural language prompts to edit images, including compositing one element of an image onto another, or even going so far as to change the outfit someone in your image is wearing.

During its Unpacked event, Samsung demoed the features, showing how its AI tools can take a picture of dog from one image and put it in the arms of a girl in another. The company also showed how the phone can instantly change the outfit of a girl from a simple shirt to a cosy sweater and onto a more grungy skater aesthetic.

To be fair, the images looked photo-realistic -- at least as far as I can see on the YouTube livestream -- though how these tools actually work in everyday use remains to be seen when we spend some time with them. The bigger question, of course, is do you actually need them? I won't answer that for you, but I will say that I'm disappointed that Samsung is following the trend of using AI gimmicks as the main upgrades for its cameras rather than focusing on taking better pictures in the real world.

I'll reserve judgement for when I've been able to spend some time taking images around my beautiful home city of Edinburgh, Scotland. There I'll focus on finding out how well the phone can capture proper photographs that I'd want to share with family and friends, not just how easily I can put a fake sweater on myself.