Samsung subtly upgraded the cameras on the Galaxy S26 series with a mix of hardware and software boosts. The base-model Galaxy S26 didn’t get a major hardware boost this year, unfortunately, and the same goes for the midsize Galaxy S26 Plus. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, by comparison, received two under-the-radar hardware upgrades. The primary 200MP camera now has a wider aperture for more detail and better low-light performance, while the 50MP telephoto lens uses an advanced All Lens On Prism (ALoP) design. Regardless of which Galaxy S26 model you own, there’s a key software upgrade for the camera — you just probably haven’t encountered it yet.
Galaxy phones are some of the most fully-featured Android devices on the market, but far too many customization options are hidden behind special apps and menus the average user won’t find. That’s true of the new 24MP camera mode for the Galaxy S26 series. It’s an excellent way to split the middle between basic 12MP shooting and detailed 50MP or 200MP capture. I unlocked it for my devices, and you can too.
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Even if your phone’s camera supports a high megapixel count, it’s probably not capturing images at that resolution by default. For example, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s primary camera takes photos at up to 200MP, but does so at 12MP instead without manual tweaks. It’s pretty easy to switch between shooting modes in the default Camera app in One UI 8.5. If you have a Galaxy S26 or Galaxy S26 Plus, you can tap the 12MP badge in the Camera app to switch to 50MP for more detail. Those with a Galaxy S26 Ultra have a 200MP option in addition to 12MP and 50MP.
Samsung lists megapixel options in the Camera app with “M” instead of “MP,” but these are interchangeable and both refer to megapixel count.
All three Galaxy S26 models now support 24MP photos, but the 24MP shooting mode isn’t as accessible as the other options. To use it, you need to download the Camera Assistant app. This is a small app that effectively just adds another settings menu to the stock One UI Camera app with specialized toggles. The Camera Assistant app is found within Good Lock, the app for all of Samsung’s extra features, including modules like Home Up, MultiStar, and LockStar. You can download Good Lock from the Galaxy Store or Google Play Store, and then look for Camera Assistant inside.
Once you do that, the extra Camera Assistant settings menu will appear buried in the Settings app. You can find it by navigating through Settings → Apps → Samsung app settings → Camera → Camera Assistant. This menu will only appear after you’ve downloaded Good Lock and Camera Assistant. There are quite a few toggles worth paying attention to here — including Auto lens switching and HDR10+ options — but the one we’re looking for is Advanced resolution options. Sure enough, there’s a toggle that “adds a 24MP option to Photo mode” in this menu.
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This tweak unlocks 24MP photos for the first time
There’s a middle ground between the 12MP default and 200MP maximum now
Flipping the toggle in Camera Assistant adds 24MP to the list of options in the standard Camera app toolbar. If you have a Galaxy S26 Ultra, you’ll now have four options: 12MP, 24MP, 50MP, and 200MP. If you have a Galaxy S26 or Galaxy S26 Plus, you’ll have everything but 200MP. But what exactly do these modes mean — and what’s the difference?
A megapixel (MP) is one way of describing a million pixels, and pixels are the building blocks of digital imagery. A 12MP photo has 12 million pixels, while a 200MP photo has 200 million pixels. When all other factors are consistent, a photo with more pixels is more detailed and contains additional visual information. However, higher-megapixel photos also take longer to process and consume larger amounts of storage space.
That’s why your phone typically defaults to 12MP photos: it’s a fine balance between speed, efficiency, and visual quality. Modern smartphone cameras also use a technique called “pixel binning” to quickly improve visual quality. It combines four pixels into one “superpixel” with better detail. This happens while balancing speed and efficiency, albeit with less raw detail than a true 50MP or 200MP shot. As you can probably guess, shooting in 24MP provides quality similar to a 50MP photo while preserving some of the speed and efficiency considerations that push people to use the 12MP mode.
Specifically, Samsung explains that 24MP photos on the Galaxy S26 use an “AI Fusion” process that “provides 12MP usability and 50MP quality through an AI-based convergence solution,” according to a community forums post, translated to English.
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The camera does most of the work for you — even if you manually activate 24MP
Let’s face it — most people probably never change their shooting mode from the 12MP default to any other option. Still, the 24MP exclusive to the Galaxy S26 series appears to be a compelling option that combines quick computational photography processing with fine details and reasonable file sizes. Although some have questioned why the feature isn’t available on older phones, Samsung is maintaining that it will remain available for the Galaxy S26 only. That’s a bummer for those rocking older phones.
But if you are lucky enough to be using a Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus, or Galaxy S26 Ultra? Switching to 24MP feels like a no-brainer. The smartphone camera does the work for you, so you don’t have to worry about picking the best mode or camera for every situation. Even if you select 24MP, the camera will occasionally and automatically switch to 12MP when it’s needed. So, you can safely select 24MP while still getting the best-quality zoom or ultrawide shots without missing a beat.
Between the 24MP camera mode on the entire Galaxy S26 series and the new horizontal lock mode for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, this year brought subtle software upgrades to Samsung cameras.
- SoC
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Display
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6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X
- RAM
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12 or 16 GB
- Storage
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256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
- Battery
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5,000 mAh
- Operating System
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Android
Every Samsung Galaxy S26 model, including the Galaxy S26 Ultra, offers a new 24MP shooting mode. On the Galaxy S26 Ultra, that means you can choose between 12MP, 24MP, 50MP, and 200MP photos. It’s another way the most versatile camera system on the market is even better.
