Galaxy S26 Ultra May Cut Back Telephoto Quality While Shedding Weight & Thickness

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will look slightly different than its predecessor. The company plans to make this phone lighter, slimmer, and more ergonomic. But all these changes come at a cost. Ice Universe believes that S26 Ultra will downgrade its telephoto camera and shed roughly 0.3mm of thickness. 

If the leaker is to be believed, the phone has already hit the production phase, and these changes are set in stone. He alleges that this newcomer will carry a second 10MP 3X telephoto camera, hiding a 1/3.94” sensor with pixels as small as 1.0µm. 

Going purely by the numbers here, this 1/3.94” sensor is smaller than the S26 Ultra’s forerunner, which is concerning. The current S25 Ultra uses a bigger 1/3.52” outsole. The pixel pitch and sensor sizes usually determine how much light a camera takes in, so theoretically, S26 Ultra’s low-light performance will not be as good.

Knowing Samsung, this sensor downgrade will likely be offset with clever software tuning and AI magic. The camera island looks different on S26 Ultra, with three main lenses sitting in a unified block and the fourth lens mounted on the back cover itself. Their specifications, however, are largely the same. 

The new Samsung flagship mobile will keep the tradition alive with a 200MP main unit followed by a 50MP ultrawide lens. Our favorite 50MP 5x periscope telephoto (1/2.52-inch, 0.7µm, 111mm) sensor will make a comeback once again with a TOF depth mapper right next to it. 

The same leaker shared a render on social media, exposing a large camera plateau, almost half the thickness of the S26 Ultra, sitting on top of the shell. Admittedly, the Ultra’s thickness has been trimmed to just 7.9mm (down from 8.2mm on the Galaxy S25 Ultra). Yet the camera bump hasn’t been tweaked at all. In fact, it’s worse on the newer model. 

The camera island sticks out by an additional 4.5mm on the S26 Ultra, which adds up to 12.4mm profile depth at its thickest point. The S25 Ultra had a 9.1mm profile, including its camera bump. Their weights are almost undiscernible, from 218 grams to 217 grams. The S26 Ultra will be just as lightweight as ever.