Samsung might just invest in Galaxy camera hardware upgrades (eventually)

Source: Android Authority

TL;DR

• Spec‑for‑spec, Samsung has not been doing much to upgrade camera hardware with the Galaxy S26 series, instead focusing on software and algorithms.
• We asked Samsung if this has any chance of changing in the future, with meaningful upgrades to camera hardware as well.
• Samsung tells us that it continues to look at its hardware options, and tries to choose the right combination of hardware and software.

Samsung’s camera hardware outlook

Samsung’s latest and greatest smartphones are finally official with the launch of the Galaxy S26 series. While Samsung is always pushing limits with its camera software—introducing new camera features—the company has been more conservative when it comes to camera hardware. The image packages on the S26 series don’t advance much beyond the S25 family.

At a Galaxy roundtable this week, we asked Samsung Executive Vice President Joshua Cho about the perception that Samsung has been leaving camera hardware mostly the same on flagship devices year‑to‑year, and whether the focus might shift toward more hardware upgrades.

“I must say that that has been a frequently asked question so far, and I must tell you that a lot of R&D has been underway on hardware improvement, as well. It’s just a matter of finding the right combination, at the right time… We are always, constantly thinking about what would be the best combination at a given time. So, in the future there would also be new combinations of hardware and software, so I ask for your patience and attention.”
— Joshua Cho, Executive Vice President, Samsung (spoken through an interpreter)

If you were hoping for an unambiguous commitment to major camera upgrades, the answer falls short of a slam dunk. However, it does reassure that Samsung has not turned its back on camera hardware. Even if software feels like the driving force behind current‑gen camera improvements, Samsung is still evaluating hardware options.

That may not be much comfort for fans feeling underwhelmed by the current generation’s camera hardware, but many are already counting the days until the S27—and whatever camera upgrades it might bring. For now, we’ll have to take Cho’s word that Samsung is keeping its options open for the S27’s cameras.