Samsung degraded camera quality

[fire5092]

After installing the newest update on my samsung s23 ultra, I have noticed the 8k camera quality has degraded. It's obvious samsung have done this on purpose, however, I specifically bought this phone for this feature (high bitrate etc). I use it for my second job. 

What can I do to get it back to where it was? And if there's not a solution, would samsung be breaching their side of the contract? 

Please help!

[Glenntech]

Welcome to the Members Community

Firstly Samsung won't purposely degrade camera quality.
Could be it's worth clearing the camera app cashe
Also try Wiping the Partition Cashe on the phone

Apparently there is a software update soon that will contain some camera refinements.
But when or what it's fixes, there's no official published news released

[Tourbillon De La Vie]

Do you have samples of the supposed degradation? 

[GoanGeek]

Please send your findings as feedback here in members support tab.

As the devs can have a look and see if something in the update messed up.

They can then apply a fix in the next update.

[Zee D]

Hi. This is a late reply but let me tell you about what I've experienced. 

I'm on my 2nd Note 10,having picked up a virtually new one a few months ago. This is mainly due to size. I can't manage the Ultra phones - too heavy and large for me. 

When I look at the photos I took with the Note on One UI 2 compared to now, there is a visible deterioration in image quality.

I just got a new S10 - these are returns within the 7 day period which 1 of the major networks clears out from time to time. Usually batteries will need changing but apart from that they're virtually new with the initial software they launched with.

So anyways, this S10 still has One UI 1 - that is Android 9 and I could not believe how vibrant and smooth the UI is. You'd swear it has a high refresh rate. 

Now, still stunned by that, I tried the cameras - and let me tell you - they're way better than my Note 10 quality and these 2 have the same hardware. 

You won't believe the night pics are from the same generation. I was just playing with a S24 and FE yesterday and I'd pitch this phone against it for photo quality. Vivid night colours, barely any noise and it took a second or 2 longer to take the pic as the UI is different from one UI 3,4, 5 or later.

My point is that Samsung does degrade photo (and video) quality with every software so that when the new model is released, the disparity between the cameras is greater. 

I still cannot believe how fluid this S10 is and the screen quality is just wow. Compared to seeing the latest flagship just the other day, all I can say is the innovative Samsung of yesteryear is no more.

The only thing keeping me is the smart software features and because I have the watch and tab - the full ecosystem. But pretty soon I will change the whole lot as soon as someone catches up with software.

So yes, Samsung deliberately does it to make the newer phone seem much better. You need to be especially careful when coming to the last software update because after that, bugs won't be fixed. So do some homework before updating for that last time.

Oh, your battery will also take a knock with the software, and you will end up thinking the phone has aged and you need a new one. 

[Neo2024]

Samsung has deliberately degraded the quality of the camera, the promised update has partly fixed the 50mpx mode, but the 12mpx mode is still very poor and nothing will change in this respect, anyone who cares about the quality of the photos should be interested in the Gcam LMC 8.4 app with the JavSabr Sharp profile ;).  I haven't seen such faulty software yet, Samsung is leading the way with its Exynos.

Samsung decided to save money by worsening the quality of the camera because they thought that not many people would notice and they are right, most people see nothing and this majority generates profits. Why did they do it, to make room for the s24 line on the same sensor ;).

[Zee D]

It is not uncommon for camera quality to degrade with a software upgrade. Whether Samsung does this deliberately or not, I'm not certain. 

All I can say is I've observed substantial quality degradation personally - to the extent where if you looked at the original photos you'd be very pleased to have that quality if you did upgraded your phone. It's not across the board, but there is plenty of feedback from users to suggest that it definitely does happen and is perhaps deliberate. 

[plunderclat]

Mine degraded with the UI 7.0 update on s23 ultra. 2 months ago I climbed a mountain and took amazing videos. Climbed another mountain yesterday and the conditions were pretty much the same. The video was rubbish compared to before the 7.0 update. I've always used samsung, refreshing every twi years. I want to keep this one going, but I'm wondering if Samsung doesn't like that idea. £1200 and this is what they do? It's absolutely disgusting and I hope they find themselves in court, soon.

[TheMMB]

I have an s23 ultra and when I go back and check the photos I took in 2023, they look a lot better than photos that I'm taking now a days.

I'm someone who knows about cameras and settings so I don't think I'm doing anything wrong here.

Photos I'm taking now are grainy and feel like they were taken in a phone from 2017 or 18. Yes I tried wiping the camera lens, yes I tried wiping out cache and clear data. I know my phone and I surely know what it used to be. 

I don't know why companies purposefully downgrade their cameras of their older phoned instead of trying to make cameras on the newer phones better. I think they do it because if you don't downgrade the older phones, there wouldn't be much difference between the cameras on the new vs old phones.

Samsung is just becoming like Apple and I hate it

Why doesn't anyone prove this and file a lawsuit against Samsung?

[Tourbillon De La Vie]

Why because it is a load of