The S27 Ultra Lost Its Laser Hole With the 3x Lens

Four leaked Galaxy S27 Ultra cases now map a one-piece rear camera island, and the most precise mold still has no opening for the laser autofocus sensor. Ice Universe posted the set on September 27, 2026, reading the fourth case as a telephoto lens at the top of a vertical oval with a much smaller circular hole under it.

That hole is the leftover of a camera Samsung already cut. This year’s Ultra still carries a 10MP 3x lens with a labeled range AF window beside the flash. Next year’s Ultra drops that 3x module, slides the 5x into its old slot, and leaves the ranging hardware with no cutout the case factories can see.

Four Factory Cases and One Missing Hole

Early CAD for the Galaxy S27 Ultra only proved an oval sat to the right of two stacked main lenses. It did not say what lived inside. Accessory makers in China then cut a run of test cases, and each mold got tighter than the CAD.

Ice Universe walked through that sequence in a single post, with photos of the four shells. The first leaves the whole camera area open and only shows the island’s size. The second punches clearer holes around the main pair. The third traces the island’s outer wall but still blanks the oval. The fourth finally splits that oval into two openings.

THE FOUR CASE ITERATIONS

1. First case: Wide open camera well. It only shows the island’s size and place on the back.
2. Second case: Tighter holes around the two stacked main cameras on the left.
3. Third case: Sharp outer wall of the island. The right-hand oval is still a blank.
4. Fourth case: Telephoto opening at the top of the oval, much smaller circular opening below it. Ice Universe reads that smaller hole as the LED flash.

He also used that fourth shell to correct his own CAD. The earlier files showed the oval’s shape and left the third camera’s height as a guess. The new mold puts that camera high, not low, which is why older fan renders now look wrong.

The same post is the primary record of the leak, including the four case photos.

Exclusive Analysis & Leak: A New Mystery Surrounding the Galaxy S27 Ultra Camera Layout

At least four different Galaxy S27 Ultra cases have now surfaced, each with a different level of precision. Interestingly, as these cases become more accurate, they are gradually revealing… pic.twitter.com/1UHmhV94zd

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) September 27, 2026

By September 28, dummy-unit photos of the same rectangular plateau were circulating on X. None of those shots add a third window in the oval.

Where Did the Laser Autofocus Sensor Go?

Earlier leaks treated the oval as a three-piece bay: third camera, LED flash, and laser AF together. The fourth case only has room for two openings. Ice Universe made the gap the point of the post.

If the third telephoto camera is at the top and the small opening below it is the LED flash, then where is the Galaxy S27 Ultra’s Laser AF sensor?

Ice Universe, on X

That is a question about a case cutout, not proof Samsung ripped the sensor out. A case only shows the holes its maker thinks the phone needs. If the laser sits under tinted glass, a precise mold will still look empty there.

Laser AF is the small infrared ranger that times a pulse off the subject so the main camera can lock in dim light or on a low-contrast wall. Phase detection on the image sensor still does most of the work in daylight. The laser is the backup that stops the lens hunting when the scene goes dark.

DXOMARK’s lab test of the current Ultra found autofocus still slowed in low light, with a 0.5 to 1.5 second wait between the shutter press and the shot. That delay is the reason an Ultra still ships a dedicated ranger. Dropping it would show up first in night snapshots and close-ups, not in a product render.

Samsung Deleted the 3x Neighborhood With the Lens

The current Galaxy S26 Ultra, announced on February 25, 2026 and released on March 6, is a quad-camera phone. The spec sheet lists a 200MP f/1.4 main on a 1/1.3-inch sensor, a 50MP ultrawide, a 10MP 3x telephoto on a 1/3.94-inch sensor, and a 50MP 5x periscope on a 1/2.52-inch sensor, plus laser AF and an LED flash.

On the back, the three large metal-rimmed lenses already sit on a pill-shaped island. The small 10MP 3x, the laser window, and the flash sit as satellite openings next to that pill, a layout carried over from the S25 Ultra. KDDI’s Japanese user manual keeps a range AF sensor listed separately from the flash, so the ranger is its own labeled part, not a software trick.

Ice Universe has been clear about what changes on the S27 Ultra. On August 1, 2026 he wrote there is no second telephoto, only one 5x 50MP lens. On September 14 he told followers to ignore a claim that Samsung would swap that module for a 1/1.9-inch 4x unit, and said the phone would retain the 5x telephoto camera with the 1/2.52-inch sensor. He also said the 5x moves into the old 3x seat.

Move a fat periscope into the small-sensor bay, delete the 3x, and the neighborhood that held flash plus laser has to be rebuilt. The oval in the new island is that rebuild. It has a telephoto up top and one small hole under it. The ranger is the part with nowhere left to punch through.

S26 ULTRA VERSUS S27 ULTRA CAMERA LAYOUT

Zack Nelson’s teardown of the S26 Ultra showed why that 5x is hard to relocate. Samsung’s All Lenses on Prism stack sits the lens group on the prism, which made the module 22 percent shorter than the prior periscope and opened the aperture from f/3.4 to f/2.9, about 37 percent more light. It is still a wide brick. Parking it in the old 3x seat is a space trade, not a styling flourish.

Dark Glass Over a 940 nm Module

Phone laser AF in this class is usually a tiny time-of-flight brick, not a camera. STMicroelectronics builds the FlightSense parts that have sat behind Ultra glass for years. A 2024 reverse-costing paper from Yole Group found the VL53L5 in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and in the S21 Ultra and Galaxy Note20 Ultra as well.

The later VL53L8CX is a 6.4 x 3.0 x 1.75 mm module with a 940 nm infrared emitter, 8×8 ranging zones, and a listed reach of 400 cm. ST’s own datasheet says the part is compatible with a wide range of cover glass and can be hidden behind a dark cover glass. Histogram processing is there to ignore reflections in that glass beyond 60 cm. The 940 nm light is Class 1, so it is not a visible red dot on the back of the phone.

That is the boring answer to Ice Universe’s question. A case cutter opens holes for glass that has to pass visible light: lenses and an LED flash. An infrared ranger can sit under a dark patch that looks like plain island glass. The more accurate the case, the more it will skip a hole the phone does not need.

Samsung’s imaging group still sells depth hardware of its own. The ISOCELL Vizion 63D is a compact ToF sensor it pitches for faster autofocus, night shots, and bokeh. Nothing in the case leak proves that chip is in the S27 Ultra. It does prove Samsung has not walked away from hidden depth sensors as a product line.

THREE PLACES THE LASER CAN STILL LIVE

• Under island glass: A dark IR-friendly patch inside the plateau, with no extra cutout for a case to copy.
• Inside a lens bay: The ranger shares a housing with the telephoto or a main camera, so only one hole shows on the outside.
• Off the oval: The module sits under rear glass somewhere else on the back, which later cases might mark with a faint window.

ST said in 2022 that FlightSense was already in more than 200 smartphone models. Hiding the window is not a new trick. It is the path the parts were built for, which is why a missing hole is a weak signal that the hardware is gone.

Ice Universe Already Warned Hubert Lee in August

The case leak is a refinement of a fight that started on August 23, 2026. That day Ice Universe posted CAD of a wide rectangular camera plateau on the S27 Ultra and addressed Hubert H. Lee, Samsung MX’s head of product design. He wrote that it was already too late to change the phone, and that Lee should prepare for what could be the most intense wave of criticism in Galaxy history.

Sonny Dickson posted matching CAD the same day. On August 25, Ice Universe said OnLeaks had finished CAD-based renders that confirmed his files, adding, “You can hate it, you can reject it, but this is the reality.” He also said the S27 Ultra would keep almost the same dimensions and 6.9-inch display as the S26 Ultra, which measures 163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9 mm and weighs 214 g, with the S Pen still on the left.

Individual circular rings defined the Ultra back from the Galaxy S21 Ultra in 2021 through several follow-ups. The S26 Ultra had already grouped its three large lenses on a pill. The S27 files go further: one raised rectangle across the top, two stacked lenses, a vertical oval, and a magnet ring under the island for Qi2-style wireless charging. Fewer cameras and a magnet array both want a flat plateau more than four floating rings.

Replies under the September case post still argue that look, not the ranger. One recurring line is that the plateau is the ugliest Ultra back in years and reads as an Apple-style camera bar. A smaller set has started to soften on the shape. The laser hole is a specialist question sitting on top of a month-old design row. Owners who already hated the island are not waiting on an infrared window to make up their minds.

The Cutouts Accessory Makers Still Cannot See

Case factories see the phone as a set of holes they must get right before launch stock ships. A wrong flash opening is an easy return. A missing IR window is only a problem if the sensor still needs open air. That is why four molds can get more accurate and still leave Ice Universe one piece short.

A later case will either punch a third hole in that oval or keep shipping with two, which would be the tell that the ranger is under glass. Until then the layout that is solid is the one the fourth mold already locked: two stacked cameras on the left, a telephoto high in the oval, and one small opening under it.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The island: Factory cases and August CAD agree on a rectangular plateau, not four floating rings.
• The 5x: Ice Universe has repeated that the S27 Ultra keeps one 50MP 5x on a 1/2.52-inch sensor and drops the 3x.
• The oval: The fourth case puts the third camera at the top and a smaller circular opening below it.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The small hole: Ice Universe reads it as the LED flash. A case cannot prove that on its own.
• The ranger: No cutout is not the same as no hardware. Under-glass placement is the path the modules already allow.
• Launch hardware: Samsung has not shown the S27 Ultra. CAD and cases can still shift before a 2027 unveil.

The next useful leak is not another render of the plateau. It is a fifth case that either adds a pinprick window in that oval or ships without one, which would mean the laser is living where a mold cannot see it.