Samsung’s next Ultra is going to look different, shoot different, and almost certainly cost more. A wave of leaks over the past week has filled in most of the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra’s story, and the biggest surprise is not what Samsung is adding. It is what they are taking away.
That new camera island is a whole new look
Case listings and CAD renders point to a large pill-shaped camera housing sitting horizontally across the back. The floating vertical lenses Samsung has used for years are gone. The new module carries three lenses: a 200MP main, a 50MP ultrawide and a 50MP 5x periscope, with the flash pushed to the bottom of the island.
The phone is tipped to measure 7.9mm thick and weigh 218 grams. A touch heavier than last year, ending Samsung’s little annual slim-down ritual. The display stays a 6.9-inch QHD+ 120Hz LTPO panel, but moves to a more efficient M16 panel said to touch 3,000 nits of peak brightness. There is also talk of a Privacy Display that narrows viewing angles, even for one app in split screen. Cute idea. I will believe it is useful when I see it working on a crowded metro ride.
Samsung is deleting a camera. Yes, really.
The 10MP 3x telephoto is out of the Ultra, according to tipster Ice Universe, who has now said it twice in a week. The S27 Ultra would jump straight from 1x to 5x, with mid-range zoom handled by cropping into that 200MP sensor. The sensor itself is the ISOCELL HP6, a Galaxy-tuned version of Samsung’s HPC sensor.
Why cut a lens from your most expensive phone? Korean outlet ETNews reported back in August that it is about money. Component costs keep climbing, and dropping a lens stabilizes pricing on Samsung’s best-selling model. The 3x is not disappearing entirely, though. It is reportedly moving to a new Galaxy S27 Pro, a phone that sits between the base S27 and the Ultra with a smaller 6.47-inch screen and no S Pen.
My take: nobody mourns the 3x lens, because nobody used it with conviction. The 5x periscope was always the zoom worth having. Samsung is just making the math official.
The software is doing the heavy lifting now
With fewer lenses, Samsung is betting on processing. Three changes are tipped: a warmer colour tone replacing the cooler look of the S26 Ultra, better highlight control for small bright objects at distance, and cleaner low-light shots with less noise in the shadows.
This is where Samsung wins or loses. Warmer tones sound lovely in a leak, but colour science is a promise, not a spec. Samsung has shown it can tune cameras well even at lower prices, as we noted in our Galaxy S26 FE review. The question is whether the Ultra’s processing leap feels like a leap, or like a consolation for losing hardware.
Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra price: expect a hike
Here is the part that stings. The S27 Ultra is tipped to start at $1,399, a $100 jump over the S26 Ultra’s $1,299. The S27 Pro is expected to hold the line at $1,299. In India, where the S26 already saw its price climb, that puts the S27 Ultra in territory no slab phone should enter without folding.
Rising memory and component prices are pushing every brand’s numbers up this year. Samsung just cannot hide it, because everyone watches the Ultra’s price tag. Expect India pricing to follow the same curve when the phone launches in early 2027.
Should you care yet?
Not if you own an S26 Ultra. A warmer pipeline and a bigger battery do not justify upgrading a year-old flagship. But if you are sitting on an S23 or S24 Ultra, this is the redesign cycle worth waiting for: new look, new sensor, a rumoured 5,700mAh battery, and display tricks we have not seen on a Samsung before.
One more thing. Dropping a lens frees internal space, and leaks say Samsung might finally fit built-in Qi2 magnets in the Ultra. Still unconfirmed, but it would be the first time Samsung simplified something and ended up better for it.