Blurry Galaxy S23 photos? Samsung promises a fix is coming

(Image credit: Future)

If you’ve noticed your Galaxy S23 or Galaxy S23 Plus has been taking blurry photos recently, you’re not alone. Samsung has acknowledged that there is an issue which sees the main camera producing photos with blurry areas. Thankfully a software update is coming.

The issue with the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus cameras was noticed earlier this year, and has been referred to as a “banana blur.” The photos have a ring or banana-shaped area of blur, and the problem seems worse in close-up shots.

But a Polish language Samsung community post (via Android Authority) has confirmed this is an actual problem. Apparently the problem has been caused because of the bright aperture on the phones’ wide-angle camera.

While this is supposed to aid night photography, Samsung says this may be causing some areas of photos to come out blurry and out of focus. Close-up photos will also apparently make it's more likely, especially if you’re using high-res mode which doesn’t support the focus enhancer.

While the timeline for the promised patch hasn’t been confirmed, Samsung has mentioned some workarounds to try and mitigate the issue. Those workarounds include stepping back if your subject is less than 12 inches away, while another suggests taking photos in vertical orientation rather than horizontal.

This issue was first reported back in early March, so it’s surprising that it’s taken Samsung almost three months to respond. I can’t imagine how frustrating that must be for S23 and S23 Plus owners. Especially when the Galaxy S23 Ultra, the best camera phone, doesn’t seem to have been affected.

If you are one of the people that’s been affected by this issue, at least now you can be comfortable in the knowledge that a fix is coming. We just don’t know when it will arrive, or how it will roll out across the world.

It’s not the only issue Samsung has had with photography on the S23 series. The company has been accused of faking photos of the moon with AI, rather than relying on the S23 Ultra’s astrophotography prowess. Then there's the baby that was given teeth by post-shot remastering. While the company has denied this is the case, it wasn’t a particularly good look. Here’s just hoping the blurry photography issue can be fixed sooner rather than later.

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Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.