Galaxy S22 and S22+ might not use Samsung’s best 50MP camera sensor

We are still a few months away from the launch of the Galaxy S22 series. However, some details regarding Samsung's upcoming high-end smartphones have already been leaked. It was revealed a few weeks ago that the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22+ would come with an upgraded primary camera sensor with 50MP resolution. Now, it has been revealed that it isn't Samsung's best 50MP ISOCELL sensor.

According to tipster Ice Universe (@UniverseIce), the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22+ will use Samsung's recently-launched ISOCELL GN5 camera sensor. It is a 1/1.57-inch sensor with a native 50MP resolution and 1μm pixel size.

The ISOCELL GN5 can capture 12.5MP images (2μm pixels) in the 4-in-1 pixel binning mode and 100MP images using a remosaic algorithm. It features Dual Pixel Pro autofocus for faster focusing, Front Deep Trench Isolation for lower noise, Smart-ISO, Smart ISO Pro, multi-frame sampling, and staggered HDR. It can capture 8K 30fps videos and 4K 120fps slow-motion videos as well.

While it improves over the 12MP 1/1.76-inch sensor used in the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy S21+, it is still not Samsung's best 50MP sensor. We would've liked to see the South Korean firm's upcoming high-end phones use the ISOCELL GN1 (1/1.31-inch) or the ISOCELL GN2 (1/1.12-inch) as both sensors are bigger than the ISOCELL GN5 and can capture better images due to larger native pixels.

It is being rumored that the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22+ will feature a triple-camera setup at the rear, consisting of a 50MP wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. Thanks to a native zoom lens, the Galaxy S22 duo could offer better zoom performance compared to the Galaxy S21 duo, which uses a 64MP sensor and zoom in digitally.