Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra camera leak points to warmer photos and cleaner night shots

The Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra will reportedly render warmer colors, control small highlights more effectively, and produce cleaner shadows than the Galaxy S26 Ultra, according to leaker Ice Universe.

Ice Universe said the shift from cool to warm tones will reportedly be the most obvious of the three changes. “This is the most obvious change, and the one you can spot at first glance once you get the S27 Ultra,” he wrote in the post, translated from Chinese. The color difference will reportedly be plain when both phones photograph the same scene.

The leaker said the Galaxy S26 Ultra sometimes fails to hold back highlights on small, very bright distant subjects, such as the lettering on an illuminated sign or a tiny light source. Those areas can come out overexposed, with their outlines and detail lost in the glare.

The Galaxy S27 Ultra will reportedly render a light that appeared bright yellow and close to clipping on its predecessor as a deeper orange-yellow, restoring the shape of the glowing object, according to the post. The improvement will reportedly apply to both the main camera and the 5x telephoto.

Shadow noise will also reportedly be lower on the upcoming phone, with the S27 Ultra cutting the fine grain that was previously easy to spot in darker areas to leave a cleaner, smoother frame. The change will reportedly be most noticeable in night shots.

X user WalleGalaxy made a similar claim in mid-September. According to the leaker, Samsung has reportedly overhauled the S27 Ultra's photo processing pipeline to deliver warmer, more natural-looking colors than the comparatively cool Galaxy S26 Ultra, according to the account. Updated versions of Samsung Log and the APV codec will also reportedly widen video dynamic range, with recording still capped at 4K at 120fps and 8K at 30fps.

The Galaxy S27 Ultra is said to carry three rear cameras instead of four, ending a run of seven Galaxy S Ultra generations with quad setups. The phone will reportedly pair a new 200MP main camera with OIS with a 50MP ultrawide and a 50MP 5x telephoto, alongside a new 16MP autofocus front camera. The 5x telephoto will keep a 50MP sensor in the 1/2.52-inch format, physically identical to the unit in the S26 Ultra.

The imaging leak comes two days after the same leaker shared photos of early Galaxy S27 Ultra protective cases on X. The cases show two larger lens openings on the left and an oval cutout to their right, reportedly for a third camera, sensors, and the LED flash. One case places the third camera above the flash rather than below it, suggesting earlier renders may be inaccurate, while the position of the Laser AF sensor remains unknown.