Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra tipped for a major night vision camera upgrade

Two Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra models on top of each other
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Image credit: Future)

When it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S23 series of phones launching soon, it seems that the Ultra model will once again have the biggest upgrades attached to it – and those upgrades apparently include "night vision" capabilities in terms of its cameras.

This comes via well-respected leaker Ice Universe, who took to Twitter to "emphasize again that the S23 Ultra's night camera is really 'night vision'". That sounds like seriously good low light photography capabilities to us.

What we don't get here are any indications of what exactly the camera modules on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will include, but previous leaks have pointed to a quad-lens 108MP+12MP+12MP+2MP rear camera on this particular smartphone.

Get the picture

It would seem Ice Universe has got access to an early Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra unit, or been able to access images captured by it: the same source has previously posted a photo comparison between the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Google Pixel 7 Pro.

In the past we've also heard Ice Universe talk about "greatly improved" low light capture capabilities for both photos and videos. This is clearly an upgrade that's going to be noticeable, and should make the Ultra one of the best phones around for camera quality.

Photos and videos taken in daylight aren't left out either, because there are rumored to be improvements here too. All will be revealed when the Galaxy S23 phones are launched, which should happen in the first few days of February.


Analysis: a key flagship feature

There's no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S23 phones are going to bring with them a host of improvements over their predecessors – including performance upgrades – otherwise Samsung might as well just keep the Galaxy S22 range of handsets on sale.

However, the low light photography capabilities of the Galaxy S23 phones are well worth paying attention to. Being able to snap photos and videos in difficult lighting conditions is one of the main ways that high-end flagship phones differ from budget devices that are going to cost you far less.

While the best cheap phones usually offer a lot of value for money, decent performance and very respectable camera setups, you'll often find that it's taking photos and videos in the dark where they start to struggle. If you need the very best night-time shots then you probably need a flagship smartphone.

It's an area that handsets such as the Google Pixel series excel in, including the aforementioned Google Pixel 7 Pro. If the night vision capabilities of the Galaxy S23 Ultra are as good as that, we're going to be impressed.

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David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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