Before we delve into this enticing, ambitious leak, grab the biggest fistful of skepticism you can. Do you have it? Let’s get into it. According to a new leak, Samsung is cooking up a camera sensor with a staggering 324 megapixel resolution that could appear in a flagship phone in two years.

According to the leaker Sanju Choudhary, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will be equipped with the internal ISOCELL HR1 sensor which gives a 324MP sensor output. It’s the most megapixel-heavy smartphone sensor we’ve come across, eclipsing it the 200-megapixel devices that Samsung currently buys.

The 324 MP camera will reportedly have a 1/1.2-inch sensor. Now remember that Samsung hasn’t officially confirmed any plans to make sensors that cross the 200MP threshold. However, this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard rumors of Samsung’s ISOCELL division chasing something really crazy.

“Production has not started at the moment. But the development is happening almost according to the sources, says Choudhary exclusively to Digital Trends. He further revealed that the company is also working on an even larger 432MP camera sensor.

Late last year, another leak mentioned plans for a 320MP camera module to be in development at Samsung. But the leak didn’t stop there. It also mentioned an even more ridiculous 440MP camera sensor, more than double the resolution of the best the smartphone industry currently has to offer.

Now, according to the latest information dump from the land of leaks, the upcoming 324MP ISOCELL sensor would likely perform two consecutive cycles of pixel binning involving six adjacent pixel units each time.

For the unaware, large camera sensors rely on a process called pixel binning which combines adjacent pixels (in formats such as 2×2, 3×3 and 4×4) to create a larger superpixel that can collect more light data in order to take more detailed pictures. In some cases, the process takes place twice.

Take for example the ISOCELL HP2 sensor from Samsung, which comes in at 200MP in its native state. In its first tetracell binning step, it produces 50 MP images. It can also go through another round of binning to produce images that are effectively 12.5MP in resolution.

Chaudhary tells me that both the 324MP and 432MP sensors being developed at Samsung will follow the double hexagonal binning format. He also mentioned that the former offers 0.52 micron pixels. However, the latter will go with an even bigger sensor. On a side note, the 200MP sensor inside The Galaxy S23 Ultra is already delivering great results.

These numbers may sound ridiculous, but Samsung is apparently quite serious about the progress. In 2021, at the SEMI Europe Summit, a Samsung executive highlighted plans to push a 576MP sensor by 2025. Assuming Samsung seriously pursued that goal, we could be just months away from seeing a 576MP camera sensor for smartphones (via Digital photography review).

When I expressed my skepticism about Samsung’s approach to developing ridiculously pixel-dense camera sensors, Chaudhary agreed that adoption would indeed be a problem, especially from the perspective of the costs and optimization required to get results from such heavy sensors.

But how far are we from seeing the 324MP camera sensor? “The development of 324-megapixel sensors is nearing completion,” Choudhary reiterated, adding that he is “quite confident” about developments at Samsung.

Meanwhile, we have already seen alleged renders of the Galaxy S25 Ultraand some of its potential internal upgrades as well. It looks like a design refresh is on the way, with a serious firepower boost from Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite system on a chip.

Samsung’s next Unpacked event is likely to take place in January, and we’ll hopefully see a lot more than just Galaxy S25 series smartphones at the glitzy launch party.