The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus were Samsung’s first flagships that made it to the retail chain boasting variable aperture technology. We have explained in-depth what this optics hardware is capable of achieving, and while it had its uses, the Korean giant never bothered to retain this feature in recent models. However, according to one tipster, there is a chance that the Galaxy S26 Ultra ships with a variable aperture, bringing even more image and video-capturing versatility to the table.
Samsung also retained its dual-aperture technology with the Galaxy S10, but the feature could resurrect with the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s arrival
On Weibo, notable tipster Ice Universe states that the Galaxy S26 Ultra is being considered with a variable aperture that will be present in the primary camera, hinting that the remaining units will operate on a fixed aperture. Since companies like Samsung and Apple test a multitude of prototypes months in advance, it is possible that someone from the Korean firm’s supply chain informed the tipster of the company’s proposed plans. However, a ton of information remains obscured.
For instance, Samsung introduced dual-aperture technology with the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, with the feature retained in the Galaxy S10 family. ‘Dual-aperture’ means the lens could narrow or widen in two values depending on the surrounding light. With the Galaxy S9, Samsung introduced a dual-aperture lens of F/1.5 and F/2.4. With the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the rumor does not dive into more detail about whether next year’s flagship will ship with two levels of aperture adjustment or if there will be something along the lines of triple-aperture or even quadruple-aperture.
It appears that as we move closer to the end of 2025, we should learn more about the hardware arriving to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. In related news, one prototype that was rumored to be tested only featured Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2, with the chipset’s Image Signal Processor possibly boosting picture quality. Ice Universe has been incorrect in the past, but we do hope that Samsung brings more exclusive features to its top-end model.
News Source: Ice Universe
