We already know that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is shaping up to be one of the best phones for photography, and a new last-minute leak says there will be some important video updates too. Samsung's flagship phone, which is expected to launch on 1 February, is getting better hi-res video recording and better heat control too.
The details come via well-known leaker Ice Universe on Chinese social network Weibo, as reported by GSM Arena, and they seem to be the real deal.
Why the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will shoot better video
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra currently shoots in Portrait Mode at a resolution of 1080p and 30 frames per second (fps). According to Ice Universe, the Galaxy S23 ups that to 4K at the same frame rate and also has much better separation between the subject and their background. That's more important than it might sound: many reviewers and users have reported that Portrait Mode in the S23 Ultra falls a long way short of the Cinematic Mode in the iPhone 14 Pro.
Non-portrait video is getting a boost too, from 8K at 24fps to the same resolution at 30fps. And the leaker says that the thermal performance of the Ultra is significantly improved too, which should mean less likelihood of overheating when you're shooting.
What's currently unclear is whether the non-Ultra models will be getting the same improvements, because only the Ultra is getting Samsung's new ISOCELL HP2 200MP image sensor. We'll find out soon enough: at the time of writing, Samsung Unwrapped is just over a week away.
