Affiliate Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, when you buy through links in the description we may earn an affiliate commission. See our affiliate link policy for more details: https://www.androidauthority.com/external-links/ Follow the Team: Paul Jones: https://x.com/1paulj_ C.Scott Brown: https://www.threads.com/@c.scottbrown Lanh Nguyen: https://www.instagram.com/lanhnguyenfilms/” json_ld_thumbnail=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XrxfTybQvkw/maxresdefault.jpg” json_ld_upload_date=”2026-02-27T09:52:21-05:00″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrxfTybQvkw
TL;DR
- The Galaxy S26 Ultra replaces the conventional periscope 5x zoom with a new design, likely using Samsung’s ALoP (All Lenses on Prism) technology.
- While the new setup allows for a wider aperture and circular bokeh, the minimum focus distance has regressed from 26cm to 52cm.
- Samsung has removed “periscope” from its official S26 Ultra materials, despite the new hardware still using light-bending prisms.
Update: March 6, 2026 (9:12 PM ET): Samsung has confirmed in a statement to SammyGuru that the Galaxy S26 Ultra does indeed utilize ALoP tech.
Original article: March 6, 2026 (05:25 AM ET): Samsung reserved most of the highlight upgrades on the Galaxy S26 series for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, including a wider aperture on the primary camera and the 5x telephoto camera. One change that flew under the radar is that the 5x camera is no longer a periscope zoom lens. Instead, Samsung has switched to a different lens type for the 5x zoom camera.