Samsung has teased a powerful new camera technology, bringing exciting new capabilities to its ultra-high-resolution 200-megapixel smartphone camera and strongly hinting at some exciting Galaxy S24 Ultra upgrades for both video and photo capture.
Dubbed “Zoom Anyplace,” Samsung’s new tech allows the camera to track a moving subject automatically and ensure it stays within frame while providing the bonus of improved image stabilization. The company claims that “even fast-moving subjects are prevented from going off-screen.”
More importantly, the feature allows the camera to shoot a wide, full-screen shot and a close-up of the subject at the same time, with both videos captured simultaneously in 4k. This isn’t achieved using multiple lenses but by leveraging the ultra-high resolution of a single 200-megapixel camera.
According to Samsung, Zoom Anyplace will let you zoom in on any part of the screen (even right up to the edges) at up to 4x magnification without moving the camera. This means the simultaneous full-screen recording can continue without disruption.
The camera can do this because its 200-megapixel sensor has a much higher resolution than is required for 4K video (8.3 megapixels) or even 8K (33.2 megapixels), so it can capture video at these high resolutions even when restricted to a smaller section of the full camera sensor.
Samsung is also significantly improving how still photos are captured, promising improved image quality and snappier capture. This is achieved by condensing two key image-processing steps into one with the help of AI, in a process Samsung is calling “E2E AI Remosaic”. This function promises to almost halve the time to process a 200-megapixel image while delivering richer details and colors.
Although Samsung has demonstrated Zoom Anyplace using an Isocell HP2 sensor—the same 200-megapixel found in the Galaxy S23 Ultra—claiming it to be “more than up to this task,” it appears its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor may not be powerful enough to allow the feature to run on this year’s flagship.
According to Samsung’s teaser video (above), Zoom Anyplace relies on Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the processor hotly tipped to appear in the forthcoming Galaxy S24 Ultra alongside an upgraded version of Samsung’s 200-megapixel Isocell HP2 sensor, the Isocell HP2SX.
While no official announcements have yet been made, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the obvious candidate to receive Zoom Anyplace when the new flagship launches in January of next year,
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