Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra renders tease new Olympus camera

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Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with Olympus cameras could look like this

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Olympus
(Image credit: Technizo Concept/LetsGoDigital)

A suite of concept designs show what the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra designed with the help of Olympus could look like.

These renders, made by graphic designer Technizo Concept for LetsGoDigital, are based on recent reports of Samsung and Olympus teaming up to work on the Galaxy S22. The prospect of the veteran phone and camera companies teaming up is exciting, especially when taking other rumored information about the Galaxy S22's cameras and design into account.

It's hard to miss the 200MP Olympus-branded camera in these pictures. While a camera with this resolution sounds absurd, it's already been rumored that Samsung is working on 200MP cameras. In fact, it may already be production-ready, based on rumors of the ZTE Axon 30 Pro using a Samsung-made camera with this resolution.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Olympus

(Image credit: Technizo Concept/LetsGoDigital)

Samsung already makes the enormous 108MP camera you find in several flagship phones, and it helped propel the Galaxy S21 Ultra to the top ranks of our best camera phones guide. A 200MP camera would be a logical evolution of this megapixel-focused photography philosophy, whether Olympus is involved or not.

The source of the rumors doesn't know what the alleged Olympus/Samsung partnership will involve. Based on partnerships between the OnePlus 9 series and Hasselblad, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro and Leica, as well as many others, it will likely involve help with color accuracy and post-processing to make images look more like the subjects they've captured.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Olympus

(Image credit: Technizo Concept/LetsGoDigital)

The wording of the rumor does leave open the possibility that a special edition of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 will be the first phone that gets an Olympus-enhanced camera rig. This is expected to launch in fall this year, much earlier than the Galaxy S22. While the Galaxy S line has historically been more focused on photography than Samsung's foldables, a limited edition folding phone does sound like an impressive platform to unveil a major company partnership.

The rest of the design takes cues from the current Samsung Galaxy S21 series. It's most obvious in the camera bump that flows over the side rail. But also in the flatness of the display, something Samsung has been moving back to after pursuing curved edge screens. The display also lacks a front camera punch-hole, because previous leaks claim Samsung will be introducing an under-display selfie camera on its flagships in the near future.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Olympus

(Image credit: Technizo Concept/LetsGoDigital)

For a more grounded feature, we can see there's also an S Pen present, which ties to the Galaxy S21 Ultra's compatibility with the stylus, previously found only on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 series and earlier Note phones.

The Galaxy S22 will likely launch next January or February, considering Samsung's product release habits. We may know earlier than that if Samsung and Olympus are teaming up. But it will be next year before we get to test out the Galaxy S22 and see if it can take back the best Android phones crown from the OnePlus 9 Pro.

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Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.

1 Comment Comment from the forums
  • waynes
    Isn't Olympus supposed to be closing down? Have the Bern bought out, and is Samsung the one buying?

    Ok. So far the ZTE Axon 30 series is says to top out at three 64mp sensors, which is 192mp as we have been pointing out, out there, and a 8mp sensor, making 200mp. I would hope by the end of the year somebody is using the 200mp chip, and it's 16k mode, but that msy be just unrealistic. However, any company with access could release am extra special model before Christmas like this. The issue is, that I haven't heard of a chipset that can give you good data rates to do 16k justice. But I note that Samsung has previously put a lot higher data rate in their chipset than the android competition. If they are going take advantage of the 16k mode, I imagine they would do this again.

    But what datarates bare needed for 16k. From prior familiarity with pocket cam footage using leading ambarella compression chipset, 10mb/s h264 at 4k is horrible. But, even at horrible, thats 160mb/s h264. Which I expect is withing the top snap dragon chipset's range, with maybe another chipset coming at end of the year, a 888+ going on what they did in past years. 320mb/s would be much better, 640mb/s better again, and 2240mb/s excellent. Obviously most of these aren't going to happen, and I imagine Samsung might go up to 320mb/s. However if you use h265, the 320 becomes 160 again, and the new h266, the 160 becomes 80mb/s, so maybe they could do their first h266 hardware at 160 or so mb/s. The problem is, the h265 circuitry is a number of times more work/complex, and the h266 is a number of times over that. The chipset size will start to add up, and I suspect, if they do this. It will be mid flagship performance camera orientated phone with massive codec section. Until you get to 280mb/s h266, it's not really pro. So, a note like model would be something big for this.

    Now, ZTE would have a Nubia z40 coming, and redmagic + model, apart from the Axon range, to stick something into. But I suspect Samsung might go first.
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