Astrophotography was an impressive feature on the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and one of the highlights of the Galaxy S21 launch. The “space zoom” that allowed users to take stunning photos of the moon stole the show, even on the Samsung Galaxy S23.
Unfortunately, it now turns out that the photos are not as impressive as first thought. A Reddit user named ibreakphotos discovered that the moon photos taken with a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra were fake.
Samsung Galaxy S23 provided fake moon photos
Ibreakphotos showed that Samsung is using an AI trick to add moon texture to moon photos. To prove this, it took a low-resolution photo of the moon and then added a texture overlay to it.
He then took a picture of this image with a Samsung Galaxy and the resulting photo was clear and detailed, although the original was not.
Using AI tricks like this to trick users into thinking their camera performs better than it actually does is misleading and unfair to consumers.
While it’s true that the Samsung Galaxy S23 has a pretty good camera, it’s not fair to make users think they can take impressive moon photos with their phone when the reality is that the photos are fake.
The difference (Image: ibreakphotos)
What does this mean for the future?
While this may be a disappointment to some users, it does not mean that the Samsung Galaxy S23 or future models are bad. It simply means that the lunar photos taken with this phone are not as impressive as previously thought.
Hopefully in the future Samsung will be more transparent about how their cameras work. Or honestly advertise the performance of their cameras. So that consumers know what to expect from their purchase, for example. Just saying something crazy…
