Remember the only notable feature of the Galaxy S9? It had the ability to change the aperture of the main camera. This was pretty significant, and it was a talking point for what was a pretty dull iterative update in the Galaxy lineup- the first of many to come. Well, according to a new report, it looks like Samsung could bring variable aperture to the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
We’re just off of the Galaxy S25 launch and gearing up to trash-talk cover Samsung’s latest foldables. However, it’s never too early to talk about the next Galaxy S phones. There’s no telling if Samsung will bring some notable improvements to its phones next year or continue to relax on its nice soft bed of laurels. Either way, we’re going to get bits and pieces of news about these phones going forward.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra could have variable aperture
Even though we’re dealing with a very reliable source, this is still early information. So, you’ll want to take it with a grain of salt. Ice Universe posted to Chinese social media site Weibo stating that, “Galaxy S26 Ultra is considering returning variable aperture to main camera”. This is a machine translation, so you’ll need to keep that in mind.
Going by the post, it seems that Samsung is mulling over the idea of adding variable aperture to the Galaxy S26 Ultra. If it does, then it would be a standout feature for sure. The question is whether it would be enough to make it an exciting upgrade. Over the past couple of years, Samsung has been pretty conservative when it comes to innovation. So far, most of the tech community expects the Galaxy S26 Ultra to basically be a Galaxy S25 Ultra with a fancy camera feature.
What is variable aperture?
One thing that makes a professional camera different from your smartphone camera is the fact that a dedicated camera can change its aperture (the size of the opening that lets light into the sensor). It’s one of the settings that dictate how bright the photo is along with shutter speed and ISO. Also, it affects how blurred the background of the photo is.
Smartphone cameras can’t change their apertures. Well, Samsung changed that when it launched the Galaxy S9. When you’d take a photo, the aperture would shift between f/1.5 and f/2.4. It would depend if the lighting conditions called for it. This is a feature that can make a camera much more versatile.
If Samsung brings variable aperture to the Galaxy S26, let’s just hope that it’s accompanied by other exciting features. The company’s last couple of phones have been rather boring.
