Samsung just made the 8K video on S26 worth it — for 4K capture

It’s been six years since Samsung introduced 8K video recording on the Galaxy S20 series. It’s safe to say that 8K video hasn’t become a major selling point for smartphones. 8K TVs never took off, and what use is 8K footage with nowhere to watch it?  The Galaxy S26 Ultra is finally changing that with new features that make use of all that resolution.

Samsung phones have had Super Steady mode for years now. Super Steady combines Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), and AI to smooth out shaky video and keep things steady. The Galaxy S26 Ultra adds real-time gyroscope and accelerometer data to predict the movement of the device and start correcting for it faster. What does 8K video capture have to do with that?

When you’re recording with Super Steady mode activated, your Galaxy S26 Ultra will use the full resolution of its 8K sensor and crop into a 4K tile to capture from. That means as your hands shake and the phone moves, the phone can move that 4K tile within the boundaries of the 8K sensor to keep subjects in frame. The example Samsung gave us was a band at a concert. You can move to the music and have fun, and your Galaxy S26 Ultra will keep the band in shot.

The benefits of using the 8K sensor this way can also be used to mimic some benefits of putting your phone in a gimbal. The Galaxy S26 Ultra can be rotated a full 360 degrees, and the video will lock with the horizon with only a small amount of sway. I was able to try this in our hands-on with the device, and the results blew me away. If you’re running, cycling, snowboarding, or doing anything else that introduces a lot of motion to the video you record, Super Steady will go a long way toward keeping your footage steady.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra might not be a big upgrade over previous generations, but features like this are impressive and will be fun to use, especially if you use your phone to record a lot of activities. Are you as impressed with the upgraded Super Steady as we are? Please let us know in the comments.