Samsung changes "AF concept" for Galaxy S23 – will it fix the banana blur?

Samsung used a forum post this morning to announce updates to the Galaxy S23 to improve camera and gallery performance. This looks to be the much-awaited camera update promised by the firm after users complained about issues involving blurred images. 

The Samsung Galaxy blurring issues reported by some users refer to blurring in rings and even banana shapes, affecting the Samsung Galaxy S23 and Samsung Galaxy S23+. This is a serious issue for a leading phone brand, and may explain why it is reportedly slipping behind Apple.

• Apple may have regained the lead, but the best Samsung phones are still great for photography 

Encouragingly the list of areas this update covers certainly includes focussing. In fact, it will change the 'AF concept' for faster photography, according to the post on the Galaxy S forum (via Google Translate).

To improve the speed of shooting, the camera will now capture an image when the shutter is pressed even if the focussing process is incomplete. An option is added to the Camera Assistant to "Prioritise focus over speed (focus priority)" to return to the previous approach, in which the image wasn't captured until the AF was locked.

The camera will also assist those looking for sharp photos by reminding them that it needs more light when shooting ultrawide when Super Steady is on.

The full list of changes also includes:

• Gallery function to delete images immediately, even while processing
• Removal of a bug that made a green line appear on the left when shooting
• Improved image stabilization in FHD60 without Auto FPS
• Corrections for banding in high-pixel modes
• Improves intermitted blurring through OIS stabilization
• Fixed a problem when going back from 'Night Off' mode
• Fixed face recognition in third-party video calls
• Stability improvements for camera movements

That's not a short list, and promisingly it does mention blurring, but it stops well short of suggesting that the issues we reported on before are fixed.

Fixing hardware issues with a software patch seems somewhat implausible, so perhaps this update is more of a distraction, the software update equivalent of Lynton Crosby's dead cat. Changing the concept behind AF might speed up the snapping of key moments, but will you forget about the blurry rings?

If you want to check out more images we caught with the phones, and see what else Samsung offers, check our Samsung Galaxy S23 v S23 Plus v S23 Ultra round-up. Or, perhaps it's time to consider another brand from our list of best camera phones.