As much as the Galaxy S26 Ultra annoys me, one camera feature keeps me coming back

I feel like all I’ve done lately is complain about the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra — from its low PWM dimming rate to its high price tag. This might lead some to think I don’t see any redeeming factors in the device.

However, that’s not true. Not only does the S26 Ultra have some great features, but one of them has become part of my essential smartphone photography rotation: its 5x optical zoom.

There’s a lot I don’t love about the S26 Ultra

Don’t get me wrong, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a great phone — but it’s also a symbol of the flagship stagnation that we’ve been seeing with some brands sold in Western markets. Despite the $1,300 price tag, the device isn’t really an example of hardware innovation.

It still carries a 5,000mAh battery — the same capacity as the S20 Ultra launched back in 2020. Samsung does use some software tricks to make this battery go further, but a capacity upgrade is long overdue. Though the S26 Ultra did get a boost to 60W wired charging, it’s still lagging behind competitors like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which supports 90W PPS charging.

The S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display is at least something that makes the device stand out from others. At the same time, its use cases are relatively limited. Some users have also reported eye strain from the S26 Ultra screen. Overall, though, it definitely needs refinement. I enabled the feature for specific notifications, and it keeps them so private that I can’t even see them when the phone is sitting directly in front of me.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is a good phone, but so is the Galaxy S25 Ultra. And the slight changes between generations make it difficult to really motivate an upgrade with its price tag. But even with all that being true, the 5x telephoto camera keeps me coming back.

I can’t help but love the S26 Ultra’s optical zoom

I’m a sucker for a good smartphone camera with versatile optical zoom, and the S26 Ultra is one of the best camera phones out there. While I use my HONOR 400 Pro as my daily driver, for certain photos, I always make sure to pull out my S26 Ultra review unit. And that’s because of the optical zoom.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 50MP telephoto lens supports 5x optical zoom. You can push this up to 10x optical-like quality, which uses a hybrid method and cropping to achieve higher zoom. I prefer true optical zoom, however, as I find that it avoids over-processing and delivers better results overall.

When I’ve spoken about optical zoom in the past, people sometimes ask me where it really comes in handy. And while it’s not a feature you’d necessarily use daily, it really improves the versatility of a phone’s camera.

The primary way I use the S26 Ultra’s optical zoom is when taking photos of animals — both my cats and wild(er) creatures. For example, whenever I visit the beach, you’ll be sure to find me chatting up a seagull to see if it will stay still for a picture. Both my cats and wild birds don’t like a phone being shoved in their faces, so the zoom is really useful for capturing closer images.

I’ve also used the feature to zoom into specific aspects of a scene to achieve better framing. It has helped me capture silhouette pictures at sunset without encroaching on others’ space. 5x zoom doesn’t seem like it makes much of a difference, but it really does, which you can see in the picture below.

Even when it comes to landscape photos, it can help you hone in on something in the distance. For example, it’s easy to miss the boats in the distance in beach photos in Cape Town. But you can zoom in to see them in better detail.

Something else I like about the S26 Ultra’s camera is that you can set the resolution for your photos in the app. This means that if you would like to capture as much detail as possible when using optical zoom, you can set the resolution to 50MP. However, I have noticed that these images are less saturated than the pixel-binned 12MP shots Samsung’s camera provides by default.

I’ve also used this optical zoom for taking photos of speakers during presentations and capturing details on buildings. While the majority of photos I capture use 1x zoom, having the option to zoom in significantly on a subject makes the camera experience so much more adaptable.

I hope that brands continue to push optical zoom

Samsung still delivers some of the best optical zoom on the market, but it hasn’t pushed this feature further since ditching the 10x optical zoom lens with the launch of the S24 Ultra. The 5x lens offers a higher resolution, but I would’ve liked to see this feature advance now that a few years have passed since the change.  The Google Pixel 10 Pro has a telephoto 48MP camera with 5x optical zoom, but there are also certain flagships that lack the feature.

The standard S26 and S26 Plus, for example, are still stuck with 10MP telephoto lenses with 3x optical zoom. Considering phones like the HONOR 600 Pro now incorporate a 50MP telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom, it’s time that Samsung set a new standard.

I’m glad to see smartphone makers like Xiaomi and OPPO are continuing to innovate, rather than resting on their laurels. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra includes variable optical zoom (3.2x and 4.3x) on its 200MP telephoto lens. Meanwhile, the OPPO Find X9 Ultra includes a 50MP telephoto lens with 10x optical zoom — something I’d like to see come to Samsung’s next Ultra device.

Despite the phone’s flaws, the S26 Ultra’s telephoto camera continues to charm me. However, as competitors — including Google — continue to push their own zoom capabilities further, the feature will eventually lose its advantage in the Western market. For now, though, I will continue to take sneaky shots of my cats and seagulls and appreciate how the Ultra’s camera allows me to do that.