- Samsung just announced a brand new camera system
- It’s sure to be a part of the anticipated Galaxy S26 lineup
- The camera system update should more seamlessly integrate all those Galaxy AI imaging tools
What was once separate could become one, and what was once confusion could finally offer clarity: that’s the potential promise of Samsung‘s next big camera system for its upcoming, anticipated lineup of Galaxy S26 smartphones.
After announcing last week that it will hold its big Winter Unpacked event in New York on February 25, where it is expected to reveal new Galaxy S26 smartphones (along, posisbly with Galaxy Buds and a Galaxy Watch update), Samsung is now teasing out some details about the big launch.
In a brief release backed up by a handful of revealing video demos, Samsung said it plans to “unveil a new Galaxy camera experience designed to unify photo & video capturing, editing, and sharing into one intuitive system.”
Among the promised features are:
- Turn a photo from day to night
- Restore missing parts of objects
- Capture detailed photos in low light
- Merge multiple photos into a single image
This sounds like a mix of old and new features. We could already sketch on images to create new elements, like the spaceship over the cow show in this GIF.
However, the quick replacement of a bite out of a cupcake to make it whole again is a leveling up of AI capabilities.
What’s more interesting here is the potential to have Galaxy AI’s image editing and enhancement tools more deeply integrated with the base camera system. Right now, for instance, the AI editing features live under a Galaxy AI button, and even there, the sketch to image and Generative Edit are separate elements in the tool.
Could all these disparate pieces be fused into one cohesive camera system? Could they appear as tools during image capture?
Here’s how Samsung describes it: “The latest Galaxy AI experiences will bring advanced creative tools to one place, eliminating the need to switch between apps and navigate complex editing software.”
Like its partner Google, Samsung has leaned into generative image manipulation in a way, say, that Apple and its iPhone have not. There’s the “Clean Up” tool in iOS. 26’s Photos app, but that element removal tool is about as far as Apple is currently willing to go in the AI space. For years, we’ve been able to sketch a rudimentary dog on any Galaxy image and let Galaxy AI generate a lifelike dog that looks like it was always part of the photo.
The integration of these powerful AI tools is not unexpected, but it does signal that Samsung is willing to let the AI experience become more seamless until they’re no longer seen as these separate and maybe esoteric things: it’s all just part of the Galaxy S26 phone’s capabilities.
I’m curious if this new camera system also means the tighter integration of all those tools currently hidden under the Galaxy Camera app’s “More” menu. This includes the “Pro” tools, “Proi Video,” “Single Take,” “Panorama,” and more.
In a similar vein, I wonder how deeply Samsung plans to integrate video shooting and editing. While it mentions video, Samsung offered no details on what changes we can expect in the handling of moving images.
Whatever these changes do entail, one thing is clear: the Samsung Galaxy S26 line will combine its hardware camera updates (no one is expecting major lens changes) with a brand new camera platform, one that could be qual parts optical and AI.
Samsung Galaxy Unpacked is sure to be a fascinating unveil. Stick with TechRadar, which will be on the ground in San Francisco on February 25 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET / 6 PM BST (5 AM AEDT on the 26th).
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
