Samsung Camera app hints at 8K Video Recording, 20:9 Aspect Ratio, and 108MP Photos, possibly for the Galaxy S11

As Samsung rolls out new versions of its camera app, we can take a look to see what the company is working on for future smartphones. Previously, we found hints that Samsung will be using its own 108MP camera sensor in an upcoming device. In the latest update to the Samsung Camera app, we found new camera features including Director’s View, Single Take Photo, Night Hyperlapse, and more. In the same update, we also spotted evidence that Samsung will bring 8K video recording support to a future device, and we also found further evidence pointing at a future Galaxy device, likely the Galaxy S11, having a 20:9 aspect ratio and 108MP camera sensor.

An APK teardown can often predict features that may arrive in a future update of an application, but it is possible that any of the features we mention here may not make it in a future release. This is because these features are currently unimplemented in the live build and may be pulled at any time by the developers in a future build.

In the first find, the Samsung Camera app in One UI 2.0 beta 4 seems to add support for 8K video recording. This is likely for the Samsung Galaxy S11 which should be launching in early 2020. We’ve been expecting this since it was announced the Exynos 990 SoC supports 4K@120fps and 8K@30fps video. While the Snapdragon 865 hasn’t been announced yet, Samsung is also working on a device with that processor as well. It is likely that the 865 will also support 8K 30fps video. This could really bring Samsung to the top of the smartphone video game.

For a phone to be able to record 8K video, its main camera sensor needs to be able to capture 33,177,600 pixels. The 12MP camera in the Galaxy S10 won’t cut it as that is only 12,000,000 pixels. Samsung needs to use a camera sensor with a higher megapixel count, which ties into the 108MP camera rumor we previously talked about.

We were also able to find a reference to a 20:9 aspect ratio. While we can’t say exactly which Galaxy device will have a 20:9 aspect ratio, we can at least say that Samsung is working on a phone with a 20:9 display.

While we can’t say for sure which features will launch with which device, there’s a good reason to expect these features to land on one of Samsung’s upcoming flagships. The processing power needed for this type of video recording just isn’t possible with the mid-range processors found on Samsung’s mid-range phones. That being said, we can’t say for certain if that means it’ll be the Galaxy S11 or another device that ends up with these features.

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.