Samsung camera patent reveals hexa prism zoom for an upcoming Galaxy phone | Tech Tips

Samsung is known to differentiate its flagship phones with hardware maximalism like multi-camera systems and 108MP or 200MP high-resolution sensors. The company seems to be taking its ambitions to the next level with a multi-lens optical imaging system for an advanced periscope zoom. 91mobiles has spotted this Samsung camera patent. Check it out:

Samsung ‘hexa prism’ periscope zoom patent

The patent (US20240288669) filed by Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd on the WIPO database shows us a six-lens setup using folded optics. So, perhaps this is Samsung’s response to Apple’s Tetraprism (4 lens stack periscope) zoom on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. 

Three of the six lenses are concave (light bulging outwards) and the others are convex (light indented inwards). These are arranged alternatively so that the light ray moves in a zig-zag manner (or bounces multiple times on its way) to the sensor. This widens the distance light has to travel (longer focal length with OIS range of 180mm to 7000mm) and thus increases the zoom. 

Note: You can check out the patent filing page for exact values of the refractive power of these lenses and how much they are prone to aberration.

As the patent filing mentions, this design comes across as “a desire to develop an optical imaging system capable of realizing both high resolution and thinning of the camera module”. In other words, the lens stack must be engineered to a compact enough size to fit inside a phone. 

We are not sure when this would make its way to an actual Galaxy phone. At present, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5x periscope zoom camera (50MP, 111mm). The Galaxy S25 Ultra is rumoured to ship with a 50MP 5x super-telephoto zoom camera. So, perhaps one of the upcoming Galaxy S-series phones could sport this advanced zoom capability. We will keep you posted as we have more info on this.