Have you been scrolling through Twitter or Reddit lately and noticed the buzz surrounding Samsung's flagship phones and their alleged fake moonshots? The controversy has left many users surprised and intrigued. In this article, we'll delve into the issue, present the facts, and provide an unbiased view of both sides of the argument.

The controversy began when a Reddit user, @Ibreakphotos, shared a post claiming to have proof that Samsung was faking its moon pictures. To prove it, the user took a high-resolution moon picture from the internet and resized it to 170x170 pixels, deleted its details, and added Gaussian blur. Then, he displayed the image at full-screen on the monitor, moved to the opposite end of the room, and turned off the lights. Finally, he used his phone camera to zoom in on the monitor and captured the moon image that shows more details than the original one, as seen in the image on the right side.

Photo collected from Reddit

Now, the argument here is that the phone created a lot of detail that wasn't present in the original image! This finding caused controversy around the authenticity of Samsung's moon pictures.

But this is not the first time Samsung has faced this kind of controversy. Two years ago, another Reddit user took a picture of the moon from his computer by using S21 ultra, and then he painted a gray smiley face on the moon image using Photoshop. After that, he repeated the same process by using 50x zoom feature of S21 ultra and clicked the picture.

Screenshots are taken from Reddit

As you can see, the final picture showed shadows and textures on the smiley face, which led to accusations that Samsung enhanced images using machine learning and AI functions.

The controversy is not about Samsung's use of AI and machine learning algorithms to improve image quality, but about their misleading advertising.

In February 2022, Samsung released a promotional video for their Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone, which showcased the device's camera capabilities, including the ability to capture detailed images of the moon. Critics have raised concerns that the moon photos featured in the promotional video may have been digitally altered. Even some users have questioned if the phone can capture such high-quality moon pictures, then it should be capable of producing better results from its digital zoom lens when capturing other nearby objects.

But here's the thing- the camera is not trained to recognize other long-distance objects like it is trained to recognize the moon.

Smart move, SAMSUNG!

If you're interested in learning more about Samsung's approach on moon photography, you can check out this following publication- Moon Photography - Samsung Members. Based on the information it already has, the phone knows what it should be shooting and can turn blobs and blurs into creators and other moon textures.

Samsung has responded to the criticism by stating that the images were captured using advanced zoom capabilities and were not manipulated. However, they admitted that the images had undergone post-processing to enhance their quality. Samsung has publicly claimed they use AI and machine learning on their phones to improve image quality. They have also admitted to using these functions to specifically train the phone to take better pictures of the moon.

Our Final Thoughts

It is not uncommon for companies to use post-processing techniques to improve the quality of promotional images and videos. But, it is important for companies to be transparent about their techniques and methods to avoid misleading consumers.

Despite this, the S23 Ultra series is equipped with top-of-the-line optics, making it unnecessary for Samsung to resort to misleading advertisements.

Samsung's use of AI and machine learning algorithms is not a new revelation, but their marketing tactics have raised eyebrows. The controversy surrounding their moon shots is not surprising, and it remains to be seen how this will affect the company's reputation in the long run. With deep fakes and AI-generated images becoming more sophisticated, the line between reality and fiction is blurring. The authenticity of the moon photos featured in Samsung's Galaxy S23 series promotional video remains a topic of debate, and consumers should be cautious when evaluating the accuracy of marketing materials.

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Credit: Cover Photo by Babak Habibi on Unsplash