Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra Camera Leaked: Major Redesign Kills 3x Telephoto Lens

A massive wave of leaks out of South Korea has completely exposed Samsung’s radical hardware strategy for the upcoming Galaxy S27 flagships. According to detailed reports from tipster Ice Universe via GSMarena and PhoneArena, Samsung is introducing an entirely new model tier called the Galaxy S27 Pro alongside a severe hardware redesign for the top-tier Galaxy S27 Ultra.

The new layout aims to establish a “Mini Ultra” hardware ecosystem, directly mimicking Apple’s strategy of packing uncompromised pro-grade internals into compact form factors.

New Galaxy S27 Pro: A 6.47-Inch “Mini Ultra”

For years, people wanting Samsung’s most powerful cameras were kind of stuck buying that massive, boxy Ultra model. Now this is shifting with the Galaxy S27 Pro, which is structurally placed sort of right between the usual S27 and the S27+ , with a 6.47-inch display.

Rather than feeling like just a rebranded Plus-style unit, the Galaxy S27 Pro is engineered to be a real powerhouse. It shares major core components with the Ultra line, in a way that matters:

• Identical 200MP primary sensor: the S27 Pro should use the same high-performance, next-generation 200-megapixel main sensor as the S27 Ultra, so flagship-level light sensitivity can live inside a smaller frame.
• Identical 50MP ultra-wide lens: for landscape imaging, you get a matched 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera, moving away from the older low-resolution fixed arrangements.
• Elite silicon baseline: inside , both the Pro and Ultra models are expected to run the yet-to-be-announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chipset, paired with a big 16GB RAM setup.

Galaxy S27 Ultra Redesign: Deleting the 3x Telephoto Lens

The biggest shockwave hitting the tech landscape is Samsung’s choice to tweak the S27 Ultra’s physical back arrangement. For years, the brand seemed to rely on a quad- camera setup, but now the Galaxy S27 Ultra is shifting to a triple camera module.

Old Quad Layout

Main: 200MP Sensor

Ultrawide: 50MP Lens

Periscope: 5x Optical Zoom

Telephoto: 3x Dedicated Zoom (DELETED)

New Triple Layout

Main: 200MP Sensor (Carried Over)

Ultrawide: 50MP Lens (Carried Over)

Upgraded Periscope: Seamless Variable Zoom Array

Empty / Slot Removed

Why Delete the 3x Zoom?

Samsung is reportedly dropping the long-standing tiny 10MP 3x telephoto sensor altogether. Rather than squeezing in a separate lens, the company will put its optical and engineering efforts into one improved 50-megapixel periscope telephoto lens.

That one periscope camera is expected to smooth out intermediate zoom levels, through sensor cropping and high-resolution computational stacking, so it can use a much larger physical sensor to better challenge the top Chinese imaging flagships.

200MP Main Snapper: ISOCELL HP6 vs. HPA

The main camera sensor on the S27 Ultra and S27 Pro is currently going through a technical restructuring thing. Early rumors claimed a massive near-1-inch ISOCELL HPA sensor, with advanced LOFIC (Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor) tech aimed at clipping-free high dynamic range, but the latest supply chain updates kinda suggest Samsung may instead use a modified ISOCELL HP6 sensor.

From what’s being reported, it keeps a native 200-megapixel matrix layout packed into a 1/1.3-inch footprint. It also leans a lot on tuned deep-trench pixel binning edges, so it can deliver ultra-clean 24MP and 12MP frames even in low light.

Design Shift Note: Apart from the internal optics, the physical camera island is rumored to rotate into a new orientation on the back glass. This rearrangement is basically required in practice, to make room for an integrated internal Qi2 magnetic ring array, for case-free magnetic accessory setups.