Samsung is done release flagship phones this year, with both the Galaxy S10 and Note 10 phones available to consumers in several markets — the Galaxy Fold doesn’t even matter, at this point. The handsets have many things in common when it comes to design principles and specs, although the new Notes do deliver a few extras on top of what’s available from the S10, including a sleeker design, faster battery charging, an even better display, and better cameras, and the S Pen stylus, of course. But Samsung is already hard at work on the next generation of flagships, which will debut with the Galaxy S11 next year, and we have the first exciting report about the handset.
A Samsung insider who’s been sharing details about the company’s unreleased devices for years teased on Twitter that the Galaxy S11 will bring a feature “that has never been seen before.” The leaker advised fans to skip the Note 10 if they care about the camera, a detail that raises the stakes significantly.
Whatever this mysterious Galaxy S11 camera trick is, Ice is certainly not sharing any specifics right now. We’ve seen him deliver several teases in the past too. Earlier this year, he did it with what eventually became the waterfall display design we’ll see on several smartphones from China.
But what could Samsung change when it comes to camera performance? The company already proved it could offer customers meaningful incremental updates, and the Note 10 is such an example when compared to the Galaxy S10.
Ice’s remark suggests the S11 will be in for a massive camera upgrade.
We’ve already seen a new trend emerge earlier this year when Huawei and Oppo launched phones with periscope cameras for improved optical zoom. Apple and Huawei, meanwhile, are both about to launch devices that are expected to deliver more professional video recording features to users. The Pixel 4 will have an extra camera on the back, with Google also reportedly working on a camera attachment that will bring the phone’s photo experience closer to DSLR cameras.
There’s no way to tell what sort of camera makeover Samsung is mulling for its 2020 phones, and what kind of photo innovations will hit next year’s Samsung flagships. The same leaker did suggest that we might not witness a renewed megapixels war, answering to a fan that a 48-megapixel lens can’t be in the cards for the upcoming handset, because that’s an outdated tech already.
Assuming Samsung sticks to the same yearly schedule, the Galaxy S11 will be launched at some point next February, which gives us nearly six months of S11 rumors to decipher.
