I tried the smartphone snooping meme to put the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s zoom lens to the test

Samsung introduced 100X Space Zoom with the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and the company was so confident in its new 48MP periscopic telephoto camera that it disgraced the S20 Ultra’s already-ugly camera continent with “100X Space Zoom” branding. This backfired terribly. The 48MP sensor had 4X optical zoom and 10X hybrid zoom, and photos taken in that range looked pretty good. Beyond that, though, it was a mess.

Samsung learned its lesson, improving the optics and removing the branding on future models. This led to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which has a fantastic set of cameras. Since phones started featuring crazy zoom capabilities, there have been memes about using them to snoop on people. Jokes aside, can you really use Samsung’s telephoto camera to spy on someone else’s phone? We put it to the test.

The optics weren’t designed for this

You got any more of them Pixels?

Ever since phones like the S20 Ultra brought these high levels of zoom to popular phones, I’ve regularly seen videos like the one above, where people claim to be able to use these optics to spy on what other people are doing on their phones.

Most of the time, it’s obvious that the videos are fake and made to be a joke, but that doesn’t stop some people from believing them. I’ve personally had people tell me that the fact people own phones with these zoom capabilities makes them concerned about their privacy. So, I took my S24 Ultra and used its 50MP 5X lens to find out what I could see on another phone screen.

The two problems I encountered first were lighting and angle. My wife helped me here, and in order for me to be able to see the screen of her Galaxy Z Flip 6 in the first place, she had to hold the phone up and to the side in a way she never usually would. If she wasn’t actively trying to help me take these photos, I’d need elevation, like the person in the TikTok video.

The other issue is glare. Now, the plastic foldable screen on the Z Flip 6 is more reflective than glass, but to the naked eye the 2,600 nit peak brightness negates this issue. Through the lens of an S24 Ultra, though, the glare is a major obstacle.

My wife knows me all too well, and I know that the message on her phone said “@sundarpichai bring back Google+, my husband is miserable.” Because of that, I can just about make out the message in some of these photos, but without that knowledge, I wouldn’t have a chance of deciphering it.

To give the S24 Ultra a fighting chance, I changed the target phone to a Galaxy Z Fold 4, so I could use its cover screen to help negate reflections. I also placed the device in the shade.

What was the result? You can see for yourself, the S24 Ultra struggled, even in perfect conditions. Sure, you can just about read the message in some of these photos, but it helps that I already knew what it said, and it’s hardly what I’d describe as easily legible.

Should you be concerned?

I can’t speak for everyone, nor can I speak about every situation where the zoom cameras on these phones could be used. What I can say, though, is that you don’t need to worry about someone spying on your phone screen. While that may seem obvious to us, there are people out there who are concerned about that — I know some of them.

Truthfully, you don’t need to look over your shoulder or invest in a privacy screen protector out of fear of the telephoto camera. The chance that someone would be at the right angle to take the photo is slim, and even if someone did, the chance they’d get a legible photo is almost non-existent.

The other thing to remember is that in these photos, movement wasn’t involved. The Z Fold 4 was stationary on the ground, and the S24 Ultra was resting on my knee as I sat on the ground. At these kinds of magnifications, the smallest twitch will result in a blurry, streaky mess of a photo. Getting photos as good as the ones I did while both phones are handheld would be impossible.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be careful with your phone in public, especially if you’re using an app with sensitive information, like a banking app. But you don’t need to be paranoid that anyone with an S24 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro, or some other smartphone with a good camera is peeping over your shoulder.