My Fan Cam

[DavidM83]

Will we get this feature on the S26 Ultra?

[Robin621k]

Only Samsung possesses this information. They appear to be restricting certain features to specific generations, similar to their approach with the 24MP setting in Camera Assistant, which remains exclusive to the S26 and subsequent models.

I will monitor whether the S25 series receives this feature with the UI9 update. Should it not be included, I will consider this my final Samsung device. I am disinclined to support a company that withholds features from flagship phones when no hardware limitations exist. The availability of 24MP in Expert Raw confirms that it is not a hardware-dependent feature.

I have owned every generation of the S or Note series since the S3, excluding just one year. I didn't upgrade from the Note 20 until the S22U came out. I had inside information about the Spen being in the S22U.

[Ryan891]

I definitely understand that point of view. I'm brand agnostic lol. My last four devices have been Samsung(S22U), OnePlus, Google Pixel 9pro XL, S26 Ultra and I can tell you that all of the companies are doing this unfortunately. My 9Pro XL didn't get some features that the 10 got even though it was capable. I assume they are doing this because people are keeping their devices for longer and longer due to pricing and stagnant innovation from one generation to the next. And they're trying to incentivize people to upgrade. Unfortunately it largely has the opposite affect as it disenfranchises previously loyal customers and actually incentivizes switching brands. I've adopted the philosophy(or tried to lol) that I'm buying the device for what it does today, not what it might do in the future. When it's time to upgrade, I'll look around and see what device/brand looks interesting at the time and buy that regardless of who makes it

[Robin621k]

As a fellow Pixel 10ProXL user, I've observed that the Tensor chip architecture prioritizes NPU performance over raw CPU power. This design choice, while beneficial for AI-driven tasks, also results in a higher demand for RAM. The inability to execute advanced AI functions due to insufficient RAM is a hardware limitation that I acknowledge. This raises a pertinent question: will future smartphone advancements necessitate 32GB of RAM, potentially making these devices inaccessible to the average consumer?

[Ryan891]

I think with the rise of AI and RAM prices in particular, we're going to see exactly this for a few years. I'm fully prepared for the S27 series to come out and get some features that arbitrarily are deemed not available for the 26. I don't like it, but I expect it.

[Mo174]

Agreed. People might think it's not a big deal since they are features not affecting the majority of users. Their general sentiment is "my phone still works just fine" and sometimes being dissatisfied is seen as entitlement.

And my point is yeah, it's fair for many people to see it as not a big of a deal compared to smth like planned obsolescence.

But what I think is a big of deal is the precedent it sets for the effort spent in products and the core notion of "software updates".

It drives me insane when my tab S11 Ultra tab has Linux Development Environment (an ANDROID feature, not One UI feature), while a relative's tab S10 Ultra ignores its existence. Both have Mediatek chips, and it is literally already a feature buried in developer options, but what drives me mad is that they went out of their way to make the segregation in a feature they didn't even develop or own.

Coming to the main point, if we are reaching an era where buying a new $1300 phone means buying access to using some software, then that is not a good path for consumers. It is already evident we reached a point where flagships can run for several years, and the new chip wouldn't even create a difference for 99% of users, but what does create a difference? Software and User Experience.

When customers know they are treated like non-existent the moment their device is one year old, customer goodwill would be impossible to recover.

I can somewhat see the motivation for restricting AI features to newer generations (not that I support it), even when they are cloud-based as they wanted some way to limit the user base for those to not incur huge costs. But what they are doing with small features is completely unacceptable. I strongly hope it doesn't become an industry standard like many other unfortunate practices.

[Robin621k]

Unfortunately my hope is probably going to be dashed. It's bad enough I chase hardware, I will not chase both though. Limiting software is a new concept for Samsung.

[Mo174]

And while new concepts often take some time to emerge, this one is emerging at an alarming rate

[Mo174]

It will be a dreadful future if we end up paying for a newer gen just to run some software features that will end being behind a subscription wall a few months later. The fact such a dystopian image is actually very plausible is scary.

[Robin621k]

Yes, an alarming rate, with no end in sight. The problem is the amount of RAM this needs to accomplish these tasks. The only solution for this dilemma is to have Ai dumb smart phones. 😅😅😅😅