What you need to know
- Samsung Galaxy S23 users took to Twitter and Reddit to complain after the July 2023 update.
- The complaints were allegedly about their devices missing high bitrate 8K video capture.
- It's not clear if the ability was removed accidentally or on purpose.
Samsung has just released its latest foldables globally, and with the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Samsung seems to have fixed the camera shutter lag problem, according to our Android Central's Nicholas Sutrich. However, the other Samsung flagship series launched early this year might have ditched a powerful camera feature.
According to several users on Reddit and Twitter, the latest update has apparently removed the ability to shoot 8K videos at 30fps at a higher bit rate, spotted by Pinuikaweb (via Android Authority). Before the update, the Galaxy S23 series users were able to shoot 8K videos at 30fps with 200 megabits per second (Mb/s) rate. However, after installing the update, users reported that they were able to record the same but only at 80Mb/s.
On the Galaxy S23 models, the preferences for the bitrate are found in the camera app settings under "Advanced video options," where users can toggle on/off shooting high bitrate videos alongside high efficiency and HDR10+ video toggles. The new July update is said to have disabled the high bitrate option, which is shown to be greyed out in the video below:
High bitrate 8K video recording was made available with the Galaxy S23 series, allowing users to capture higher-quality videos in HEVC format but with the drawback of some stuttering, per user reports. Affected users state that the feature was available till the pre-June update. However, after complaints arose about the stuttering, It seems likely Samsung could have ditched the ability altogether, whether permanently or temporarily.
Samsung has yet to confirm the modifications officially, and it is unclear whether the removal was done on purpose or if Samsung concealed the feature to lessen complaints of stuttering during high-bitrate video capture. In any case, the feature is still available for 4K 60 video recording, but we hope to see it return to 8K recording, perhaps with the August update.
