Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to furnish cheaper Android phones with its incredible camera tech

Samsung to let other Android handsets use Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra's incredible telephoto camera

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
(Image credit: Unsplash)

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra could be about to share its most impressive feature with future applicants to our best cheap phones guide. The feature in question is the 10x optical zoom ‘folded’ telephoto camera that’s found on the pricey Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra flagship, which looks set to be sold as a separate component to companies.

It seems not a single day goes by without some sweeping news around the Samsung Galaxy S21 series. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra lacked the finesse of the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, but it was no less a powerful phone.

The Korean-giant refined the formula with the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and it's clearly paying dividends as other companies pine after the telephoto technology. It concerns the 100X Space Zoom feature, which makes use of the 10x lens, folded, innovative periscope lens, that lets users achieve extraordinary levels of magnification.

Samsung

(Image credit: Samsung Electro-Mechanics)

What this news could mean is that mobile users get the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra‘s most prestigious feature in a cheaper phone from our best Android phones. It could also significantly cut costs, enabling greater access to the technology, although it could still be pricey.

In the blog, Samsung Electro-Mechanics announced it was kicking off manufacturing for the 10x zoom module, stating that it would sell the 10x zoom component to both automotive and smartphone producers. 

Samsung Electro-Mechanics has stopped short of naming any specific manufacturers interested in the technology, but said: “Samsung Electro-Mechanics supplies camera modules to major smartphone companies, and with its technology accumulated in the mobile area, it is expanding its business with global automotive companies.”

If this news results in wider adoption of the folded camera technology that sees its lenses placed across the width and length of the phone, as opposed to depth, then it could mean a bunch of Android phones with the telephoto feature making their way onto T3’s esteemed best phones guide.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is in the business of providing camera modules to external companies, but there's plenty of innovation going on inside Samsung, too.  With the Samsung Galaxy Note 21 likely to get its own version of this sensor, you may not have to wait too long with it potentially releasing later this year. 

It's obviously very early days for concrete confirmation around other companies receiving the telephoto tech, but the early signs look promising.

Source: Tom's Guide

Luke Wilson

Luke is a former news writer at T3 who covered all things tech at T3. Disc golf enthusiast, keen jogger, and fond of all things outdoors (when not indoors messing around with gadgets), Luke wrote about a wide-array of subjects for T3.com, including Android Auto, WhatsApp, Sky, Virgin Media, Amazon Kindle, Windows 11, Chromebooks, iPhones and much more, too.