Samsung's latest Galaxy S20 smartphones have some of the best camera hardware with the top-of-the-line Galaxy S20 Ultra behemoth sporting the company's brand new 108MP main camera, and a 48MP periscope capable of 100X "space zoom."
Despite the stellar camera specs, some early reviewers have reported focus hunting issues on the S20 Ultra. Samsung, in its response, has said that it is working on an update to improve the camera, although it didn't quite acknowledge any specific problem nor confirm any timeframe for the fix.
In a statement to The Verge, Samsung said: "The Galaxy S20 features a ground-breaking, advanced camera system.. We are constantly working to optimize performance to deliver the best experience for consumers. As part of this ongoing effort, we are working on a future update to improve the camera experience."
Update in the works
Earlier this week, Samsung rolled out an update (G988NKSU1ATBR) for the Galaxy S20 Ultra in South Korea. The update brings the March 2020 Android security patch and improved camera quality, and will be available in the rest of the markets in the coming days.
However, it is not clear if Samsung is talking about this particular update in its statement or another new update altogether. There is a good possibility that the company may be working on an entirely new update, since the statement mentions "working on a future update" suggesting that another OTA could be on its way.
Galaxy S20 Ultra camera problems
Early reviews of the phone including those from The Verge, PC Mag and Input highlighted the autofocus issue and suggested that the autofocus system was unreliable and took an unusually long time to lock focus onto a subject. The reviewers also observed that the system sometimes completely failed to focus, which isn't a good thing for a $1,699 flagship smartphone.
The issue has been confirmed by The Verge's Dieter Bohn, who gave the first impressions and hands-on user experience of the phone. The publication also expressed concern that the Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera tends to exhibit rather aggressive image processing in certain situations, and often doing excessive skin smoothing.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera is perhaps the phone's biggest USP. The cameras have some of the best low-light performance and pack plenty of features such as Single Take mode, 8K video recording, 30X hybrid zoom and 100X space zoom and a 40MP selfie camera. The camera system may not have been well-calibrated or optimised and it's something that a software update could fix.
