Samsung's $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra hasn't even launched yet, but the company is already fixing an issue with its camera
- Samsung said it will issue a software update to fix problems that some reviewers experienced with the Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera, according to reports from The Verge and Input.
- Some reviewers noticed that the Ultra's camera had difficulty auto-focusing on subjects.
- The $1,400 Galaxy S20 Ultra is Samsung's top-of-the-line model, and its main selling point is its 108-megapixel camera.
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The Galaxy S20 Ultra's flashy camera, - which comes with four lenses including one with a whopping 108-megapixel sensor - is undoubtedly its biggest selling point. But it looks like the company is already working to fix an issue with the $1,400 phone's camera ahead of its launch on March 6 after a couple of reviewers cited performance problems.
Specifically, reviewers at PCMag and Input noticed that the S20 Ultra's camera struggles to focus, which would sometimes result in a blurry photo. In some cases it seemed like the camera wouldn't lock on to the subject at all, as PCMag has noted. Business Insider has also noticed when testing the Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera that it sometimes has difficulty auto-focusing on a particular subject.
Samsung issued a statement saying that a software update is imminent.
"The Galaxy S20 features a groundbreaking, advanced camera system," a Samsung spokesperson said to Business Insider. "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."
Samsung declined to share more information about what the update will entail specifically or when it will be released.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra is the top-of-the-line version of Samsung's latest flagship smartphone. Starting at $1,400, it comes with a beefier 108-megapixel camera, a higher-resolution selfie camera, and a larger screen compared to the Galaxy S20 and Galaxy S20 Plus, among other differences. That starting price makes the Galaxy S20 Ultra more expensive than Apple's high-end iPhone, the $1,100 iPhone 11 Pro Max, as well as Samsung's new $1,380 foldable flip phone. It's also almost as expensive as the foldable $1,500 Razr that Motorola launched earlier this month.
Although the Galaxy S20 Ultra supports 5G connectivity and has an improved screen with a higher refresh rate for smoother scrolling, it's really the camera that's been positioned as its main attraction. The Ultra's 108-megapixel sensor represents a significant bump in megapixel count from last year's Galaxy S10 lineup, which has a 12-megapixel wide-angle camera and a 16-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera. Samsung has also been touting the Ultra model's ability to zoom at up to 100X, a feature it calls Space Zoom, which also represents a big jump from the 10X zoom on the Galaxy S10.