Samsung Galaxy S27 Series: What the Leaks Suggest

Samsung's next flagship generation is starting to leak, and there are a couple of genuine surprises this time. Rumors point to a new fourth model, the Galaxy S27 Pro, joining the usual S27, S27+, and S27 Ultra - and on top of that, leaks suggest the S27 Pro and S27 Ultra could get a horizontal camera layout, a shift away from Samsung's usual vertical setup. If true, it'd bring back a look similar to the old Galaxy S10, and closer to what Google's Pixel phones look like now. I've been digging through what's out there so far, and here's everything worth knowing.

Quick note before we start: none of this is official yet. I'll keep updating this page as more leaks show up, so check the date above to see how fresh it is.

A Four-Phone Lineup This Time

Samsung's stuck to three phones per generation for years now: base, Plus, and Ultra. That's been the format since the Galaxy S20 in 2020, so this would be the biggest lineup change in seven generations if the leaks hold up. Leaks suggest the S27 series will have four models instead:

• Galaxy S27
• Galaxy S27+
• Galaxy S27 Pro (new)
• Galaxy S27 Ultra

Honestly, I think this is the most interesting part of the whole leak so far. A Pro tier sitting between the Plus and the Ultra gives buyers a real upgrade without jumping all the way to Ultra pricing. Samsung hasn't really offered that before.

How Big Is the Galaxy S27 Pro, and What Sets It Apart From the Ultra?

Current leaks point to a 6.47 inch display on the S27 Pro. On paper, the panel itself sounds pretty premium too: leaks point to a 2K, 120Hz, flat LTPO OLED display, along with an anti-reflective coating and a privacy display mode - basically the same display setup rumored for the S27 Ultra, just on a smaller 6.47-inch panel. That's a solid display on paper. LTPO also means better battery life, not just a smoother-looking screen.

From what's out there so far, the S27 Pro sounds a lot like the Ultra, just smaller and without the S Pen. If that holds up, the S Pen stays an Ultra-only feature, and the Pro's pitch is basically Ultra-level performance and design, minus the stylus.

Performance: Expected Chipset, RAM, and Storage

So it looks like the S27 and S27+ share the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chip, while the S27 Pro and Ultra get a beefed-up Pro version. Leaks also suggest this Pro chip could hit clock speeds of 5GHz or more. This makes the S27 Pro model a real performance upgrade from the Plus.

But, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chip might not reach every region. Leaks suggest the S27 Pro could ship with Samsung's own Exynos 2700 in some markets outside North America, while the S27 Ultra stays on Snapdragon everywhere. Samsung's done this before, so it's not new. It just means performance on the Pro model could vary depending on where you buy it.

Cameras: Expected Specs for Pro vs Ultra

Let's start with the look of the main cameras. Leaks suggest the S27 Pro and S27 Ultra might ditch Samsung's usual vertical camera arrangement for a horizontal layout instead, something that hasn't really been Samsung's look since the Galaxy S10 era, and closer to how Google's Pixel phones have been designed lately. If this turns out to be true, it'd be one of the bigger visual changes to the S-series in a while, since Samsung's stuck with a pretty consistent camera design across recent generations.

Main Cameras

As for the main cameras, both phones are rumored to get the same 200MP main camera and 50MP ultrawide camera. The interesting part is the sensor behind that main camera. Leaks point to Samsung using its ISOCELL HP6 sensor with variable aperture instead of the HPA sensor used in earlier generations. The HP6 is smaller at 1/1.31 inches, but it's built on the same base as the HPA and reuses a lot of its underlying tech, so it's more of a refined version than a downgrade.

Where the two phones differ is the telephoto setup. The S27 Pro is rumored to get a 50MP telephoto lens with 3.5x optical zoom, using a design called ALoP, short for All Lenses on Prism. Normally, these setups place the lenses between the prism and the sensor. ALoP instead puts the lenses right on top of the prism, which shrinks the camera module and allows more light in for brighter shots.

The S27 Ultra, on the other hand, skips this lens entirely and sticks with its usual 5x periscope zoom, offering 5x optical zoom and up to 10x zoom with cropping.

Selfie Camera

There's also a rumored change on the front, a new 16MP selfie camera with a square sensor. The idea is that a square sensor makes it easy to switch between portrait and landscape without losing quality, since Samsung could just crop out 12MP 4:3 images either way, a resolution that's already pretty standard. It's a small change, but a genuinely useful one if you switch orientations a lot for selfies or video calls.

Battery: What's Rumored for the Pro and Ultra

We don't have much information on the standard S27 and S27+ yet, but there's some for the Pro and Ultra.

The S27 Pro is rumored to land around a 5,000mAh battery like the S26 Ultra but the S27 Ultra is expected to go bigger, somewhere between 5,500mAh and 6,000mAh. A bump like that would actually make sense given the possible switch to a horizontal camera layout we talked about earlier, since that kind of design change can free up internal space for a larger cell.

There's also news of Samsung testing a silicon carbon battery for the Ultra. Silicon carbon batteries pack more capacity into a smaller space compared to standard lithium-ion cells, so this, along with the freed-up internal space, could explain the Ultra's bigger battery.

On charging, leaks point to both the Pro and Ultra sticking with 60W wired fast charging, same as the S26 Ultra. The bigger change might be on the wireless side: rumors suggest dedicated magnetic rings for wireless charging on both phones, along with support for Qi2 wireless charging.

My Take

Out of everything here, the S27 Pro is the one that's got my attention the most. Ultra-level performance in a smaller, compact size is exactly what I've wanted from Samsung for a while, so if the Pro delivers on that, it might end up being the more sensible pick over the Ultra for a lot of people, myself included.

The camera layout change is the other thing I'm excited about. I've always liked the horizontal design on phones like the Pixel. It gives the back of the phone a more symmetric, balanced look compared to the usual vertical stack, so if Samsung is finally moving in that direction with the Pro and Ultra, here's hoping this leak holds up.

Sources

• YouTube video - Sillycorns
• PhoneArena
• Samsung Semiconductor
• GadgetHacks