This YouTuber tore down a Galaxy S26 Ultra to see how Samsung improved the camera

Samsung recently announced its latest lineup of Galaxy phones at its annual Samsung Unpacked event, unveiling the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra. The company focused heavily on AI during the event, glossing over some camera hardware upgrades in the S26 Ultra. Those updates are worth looking at more closely, though. Thankfully, YouTuber JerryRigEverything took the time to break down the new flagship to see what's actually going on with the cameras.

In the video, JerryRigEverything meticulously takes apart the phone, looking at just about every component along the way, so it's worth watching all the way through if you are generally interested in the inner workings of smartphones. That said, the camera talk begins at 6:50 if you'd like to skip to that.

The S26 Ultra's 5x telephoto camera sees a notable aperture upgrade, going from F3.4 on the S25 Ultra to F2.9 on this year's model. JerryRigEverything also points out that Samsung has made the telephoto module 22% thinner. To do all of this, Samsung used its "All Lenses on Prism" (ALoP) design, which moves the entire lens group onto the periscope prism surface instead of between the prism and the sensor. The video shows the S25 Ultra's 5x telephoto camera module for comparison, so you can see the difference between the two designs.

The video compares the two 5x telephoto camera modules. Images: JerryRigEverything

The main camera and ultrawide also saw boosts in aperture from the previous generation. The main camera now features an F1.4 aperture, up from last year's F1.7, and the ultrawide now sits at F1.9 compared to the S25 Ultra's F2.2. The 3x telephoto camera is the only one that doesn't get the benefit of a brighter aperture; it keeps the F2.4 of its predecessor.

Other than aperture improvements, three of the phone's cameras retain the same sensors as last year. The 200MP main camera uses a Type 1/1.3 (∼72mm²) sensor, while the 50MP ultrawide uses a Type 1/2.5 (∼24mm²) sensor. The S26 Ultra features two telephoto cameras, including the aforementioned 5x telephoto module with a 50MP Type 1/2.52 (∼24mm²) sensor. The 10MP 3x telephoto camera, however, sees a very slight downgrade in terms of sensor size. It now has a Type 1/3.94 (∼10mm²) sensor compared to the S25 Ultra's Type 1/3.52 (∼12.54mm²).

Beyond cameras, the main upgrade for Samsung's new flagship phone is the latest Snapdragon chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. It also offers faster charging: wired up to 60W and wireless up to 25W. Otherwise, the phone leans on AI-related software features rather than big hardware upgrades.

The latest Samsung Galaxy S lineup is available for purchase now, with the S26 Ultra priced at $1299, the same as last year's model.