Last updated: October 18, 2026
The Galaxy S27 Ultra is shaping up to be Samsung’s most significant Ultra upgrade in years, with a redesigned camera system, a new 200MP sensor, the biggest battery bump in the series’ history and a next-generation Snapdragon chip. It’s expected to arrive in early 2027 alongside the Galaxy S27, S27+ and a new S27 Pro. Samsung hasn’t announced any of it, so everything below comes from tipsters, CAD renders, certification listings and firmware sightings. This page collects all of it in one place and will be updated as new leaks appear.
Galaxy S27 Ultra at a glance
| Category | Current rumor |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (2nm) |
| Main camera | 200MP ISOCELL HP6, possible LOFIC |
| Ultrawide | 50MP |
| Telephoto | 50MP, 5x optical zoom |
| Rear cameras | Possibly three, down from four |
| Variable aperture | Reportedly cancelled |
| Display | M16 OLED, possible DC dimming |
| RAM | 12GB or 16GB (LPDDR6 rumored) |
| Storage | 256GB, 512GB or 1TB (UFS 5.1 rumored) |
| Battery | 5,700mAh typical, silicon-carbon rumored |
| Wired charging | 60W |
| Software | One UI 9.5, Android 17 |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Light Pink, White |
| Launch | Early 2027 |
Processor
Qualcomm has now made its next flagship chips official. At its Snapdragon Summit on September 22, the company announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, both built on a 2nm process with Oryon CPU cores that reach 5GHz. Earlier leaks had called the higher-end chip the “Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro,” and that’s the chip the S27 Ultra has been tied to. The Extreme version adds dedicated AI-focused Adreno cores and 18MB of high-performance graphics memory, and it reportedly supports LPDDR6 RAM.
Samsung hasn’t said which chip it will use, but the Ultra is expected to favor Snapdragon, while the rest of the S27 lineup could split between Snapdragon and Samsung’s Exynos 2700 depending on model and market.
Cameras
A new 200MP sensor
Samsung is reportedly developing a new 200MP ISOCELL HP6 (S5KHP6) sensor with LOFIC support for the S27 Ultra’s main camera. It’s said to stay in the 1/1.3-inch class, similar to the HP2 used in earlier Ultras, so any gains would come from sensor architecture rather than a bigger sensor. LOFIC (Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor) is designed to handle excess charge in bright areas of an image, which could mean better highlight detail, wider dynamic range and cleaner HDR shots. How well it works in practice is unknown. The HP6 is also separate from Samsung’s ISOCELL HPC sensor.
A redesigned rear
CAD-based leaks show a major camera redesign, with a large rectangular camera plateau replacing the individual rings of recent Ultras. The layout includes two vertically stacked cameras, a third in a pill-shaped section, an LED flash, laser autofocus hardware and a possible circular magnetic ring near the center of the back. That ring has fueled speculation about built-in Qi2-compatible magnets.
The leaks haven’t agreed on a final design. An earlier concept showed a horizontal bar with three lenses, and a case leak raised a new camera mystery: the latest case shows a third camera and a smaller opening beneath it that’s likely for the flash, with no obvious opening for the laser autofocus sensor. Possible explanations include a different sensor position, a redesigned integration or an incomplete case design.
Fewer lenses, different zoom
One rumor has Samsung dropping the 3x telephoto and moving from four rear cameras to three.
| Camera | Rumored specification |
| Main | 200MP |
| Ultrawide | 50MP |
| Telephoto | 50MP, 5x optical zoom |
A 16MP selfie camera has also been tipped.
No variable aperture
An earlier rumor had Samsung testing variable aperture for the main camera, but a later report says Samsung dropped the idea because of higher component costs, a thicker camera module and image-quality gains that didn’t justify either. Samsung last used dual aperture on the Galaxy S9 and S10, which switched between f/1.5 and f/2.4.
Battery and charging
The battery is where the S27 Ultra could change the most. Samsung is reportedly testing silicon-carbon technology for the S27 lineup, and the most consistent Ultra figure is 5,700mAh typical capacity, with a rated capacity of 5,534mAh. That’s about 14% more than the 5,000mAh cell Samsung has used in recent Ultras. A separate report says the battery may contain only a small amount of silicon and still be classified as a conventional lithium-ion cell, and a 7,000mAh figure for a testing prototype is a far less reliable claim than 5,700mAh.
Charging is expected to stay at 60W wired, with the Galaxy S27 Ultra and S27 Pro tipped to support 60W charging after appearing in China’s 3C database. That matches the previous generation’s ceiling, so the gains would come from the larger battery and better charging management. The phone is also expected to ship without a charger.
Display
The S27 Ultra and S27 Pro are reportedly moving to Samsung Display’s newest OLED material, M16, while the standard S27 and S27+ stay on M14. M16 is expected to bring higher peak brightness, better efficiency, improved color accuracy and a longer lifespan, though no figures have been shared. A tipster’s spec list also includes a 6.9-inch QHD+ Privacy Display, in line with the S26 Ultra.
The two Pro-tier phones are also reportedly switching to DC dimming. Samsung’s current OLEDs rely on PWM for brightness control, which can bother people who are sensitive to flicker at low brightness. DC dimming adjusts the current going to the pixels instead of relying only on rapid switching. It isn’t a guarantee of a completely flicker-free screen, and the standard S27 and S27+ haven’t been reported to get it. Samsung is also said to be working with safety-related organizations and continuing to improve Eye Comfort Shield.
Memory and storage
A Korean tipster says the S27 Pro and Ultra could get LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.1 storage, up from the LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 combination in the current Ultra. The standard S27 and S27+ reportedly won’t get either upgrade.
| RAM | Storage |
| 12GB | 256GB |
| 12GB | 512GB |
| 16GB | 1TB |
The top configuration stays at 16GB and 1TB, so the improvement is in speed and efficiency rather than capacity. Samsung reportedly hasn’t finalized the memory and storage standards.
Software
The S27 Ultra is expected to launch with One UI 9.5 on Android 17. One UI 9.5 test builds have appeared for all four S27 models on Samsung’s US test servers, with the Ultra’s firmware reportedly S958USQU0AZH3 and the other builds showing up soon after with placeholder over-the-air hashes across several carrier variants.
Colors
A leak points to four standard colors: Black, Blue, Light Pink and White. No online-exclusive shades have been identified.
Price
There’s no price yet, but costs are climbing. Tipster Abhishek Yadav claimed the top-tier Snapdragon chip could cost more than $300 per unit, compared with an estimated $240 to $280 for last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and Qualcomm has reportedly raised chip prices by double-digit percentages for products shipped after September 1. Samsung could absorb some of that, adjust other components or pass part of it on to buyers, so a higher chip cost doesn’t translate directly into an equal rise in the phone’s price.
Release date
The Galaxy S27 series is expected in early 2027, with some reports pointing to a late January launch and others to February. The final camera configuration, whether Qi2 magnets are built in, the battery chemistry, which chip goes into which model and the pricing are all still open questions.
Latest Galaxy S27 Ultra news
- Oct 18: Galaxy S27 Case Leak Shows a Two-Design Split Across the Lineup
- Oct 11: Galaxy S27 Pro and Ultra Reportedly Switch to Flicker-Reducing DC Dimming
- Oct 5: Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra Color Options Revealed
- Oct 3: Samsung Galaxy S27 Series Screen Protector Leak Reveals Size Differences
- Sept 29: Galaxy S27 Ultra May Get a New 200MP ISOCELL HP6 Sensor With LOFIC Support
- Sept 27: A Galaxy S27 Ultra Case Leak Just Raised a New Camera Mystery
- Sept 25: Galaxy S27 Pro and Ultra Could Get LPDDR6 RAM and UFS 5.1 Storage
- Sept 13: Galaxy S27 Pro and Ultra to Get New M16 OLED Displays
- Sept 6: Galaxy S27 Ultra and Pro Tipped to Support 60W Charging
- Aug 25: Galaxy S27 Ultra Leak Shows Major Camera Redesign
- Aug 13: Samsung Reportedly Cancels Variable Aperture for Galaxy S27 Ultra
- Aug 2: One UI 9.5 Now Testing on All Four Galaxy S27 Models
- Jul 27: After Z Fold 8, Galaxy S27 May Get Silicon-Carbon Batteries
- Jul 25: Galaxy S27 Ultra Could Get More Expensive After Qualcomm Price Hike
M Adnan Akram is the founder and lead writer at Phoonomo, covering mobile technology with a primary focus on Apple and the broader smartphone industry, alongside emerging developments in AI. He follows product launches, spec leaks, and industry trends closely to keep readers informed with timely updates.
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