If you have been a fan of Samsung devices for a long time and were excited by rumors that Samsung might bring back one of its more unusual camera features, sorry to disappoint you. That doesn't seem to be happening anymore.
Back in May, rumors began circulating that Samsung might revive variable aperture, a physical camera mechanism that allows a lens to adjust how much light reaches the sensor, for the Galaxy S27.
The feature would have given Samsung another answer to Apple's reportedly planned variable aperture camera for the iPhone 18 Pro. But according to ETNews, Samsung has now reportedly decided against bringing it back.
Samsung previously used variable aperture on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S10 in 2018 and 2019. The system allowed the camera to switch between different aperture settings depending on the shooting conditions, before Samsung eventually moved away from the technology.
Louis Eriakha
Why Samsung changed its mind
The problem appears to be the same one that made variable aperture difficult in the first place: cost and space. Variable aperture requires additional mechanical components inside the camera module, increasing manufacturing costs and making the camera bump thicker.
According to the latest report, those trade-offs may have been enough for Samsung to decide that the benefits aren't worth the additional hardware. That's particularly relevant for modern smartphones, where manufacturers are trying to fit larger sensors and more capable cameras into increasingly compact designs.
Variable aperture can offer more control over how much light reaches the sensor. A wider aperture can help in darker conditions, while a narrower aperture can change exposure and depth of field.
But smartphones can also achieve many of these effects through computational photography and image processing, which makes the case for adding more mechanical hardware less straightforward.
What Samsung is doing instead
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