Samsung Explains its ‘Fake’ S23 Moon Photos to be Heavily Assisted by AI, Camera Features

The South Korean tech company, Samsung, is now clarifying things from the highly controversial "fake" Moon images it allegedly took using the Galaxy S23, also letting the public know how it did it. When Samsung launched the Galaxy S23 last February, the company claimed that it can capture images of the Moon and share sample shots with the public.

However, there was a Redditor who questioned this and put a side-by-side image of the edited photo versus the one taken from the internet and then blurred intentionally, allegedly what Samsung did.

Samsung Explains 'Fake' S23 Moon Photo using its Camera Tech

Samsung is offering the world an explanation after significant reports about its "fake" Moon photos which it showed to the world during the Galaxy S23's showcase during the Unpacked event. The tech giant claimed that it used artificial intelligence on its smartphone cameras to bring more details to the picture, outputting an enhanced image.

The South Korean tech company said that it had been using AI for its cameras since the Galaxy S10, which debuted in 2019.

They also attributed the Moon photos to its "Scene Optimizer feature Scene Optimizer feature" which recognizes the natural satellite as a specific object that when captured, would add details to enhance it better for users.

The S23 also features the Super Resolution which activates to "synthesize" 10 images in a photo shot at 25x zoom or over.

The Redditor's Massive Thread that Started it All

The Redditor known as u/ibreakphotos was the one that started it all, claiming that Samsung took a high-res image of the Moon, blurred the image to almost an unrecognizable one, then took a photo of it using the S23 for the camera to do its magic.

Samsung said that if users do not want the Scene Optimizer AI to be enhancing their images, they can turn it off via Camera → Camera Settings → Scene Optimizer → Off.

Samsung Galaxy S23's Camera

One of the hottest topics on the internet now is the fake images from Samsung's marketing and advertising of the Galaxy S23, stemming back to the Galaxy Unpacked event which debuted the smartphone. The company's event put a significant spotlight on its flagship device, with many technological claims and capabilities of the device.

Samsung put a significant emphasis on the camera enhancements and features of the Galaxy S23, and indeed, there are massive developments to the flagship smartphone of this year's release.

Some call it a "game changer" with its powerful Nightography, Astro Hyperlapse, 100x zoom, 8K with 30fps, 4K with 60fps, HDR, and more.

The Unpacked event also used the S23's camera to spell out the word "Mooon" and it is intentional to add the extra "O" to emphasize its three-camera setup in the rear.

In Samsung's defense, it is not fake, but it saw significant enhancements using its "Super Resolution" feature and additive AI which helped in filling in the gaps of what the handheld's camera missed on the shot.