Third-party apps will soon be able to fully utilize Android phones’ cameras

Android has long been criticized for failing to provide the same rich experience as iOS in terms of app quality and camera quality on third-party apps. Google and Samsung have been attempting to resolve the issues in their own ways. Samsung has been collaborating with social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat to boost camera quality within those apps.

Android 14’s Ultra HDR functionality is coming to CameraX APIs, which can be exploit by third-party apps

Google is now working on a fundamental upgrade to Android that will allow third-party apps to increase camera quality. According to Android specialist Mishaal Rahman, Google is planning to add support for Ultra HDR photos to the CameraX API. This is the API that third-party apps can use to access the camera hardware on Android phones and tablets. Google has added Ultra HDR to CameraX, allowing photographs to be stored in JPEG_R format. It enables gainmap metadata to be preserved in the same image file, allowing phones to display HDR photographs on HDR-capable screens while SDR images on non-HDR panels.

This modification allows third-party camera apps to capture photographs with a wider dynamic range and richer colors. This should improve the quality of photographs collected and shown via third-party apps. These capabilities will only be available on phones running Android 14, as Ultra HDR is only supported on the most recent version of Android.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus Ultra Super HDR Camera

Samsung will use Google’s Ultra HDR format to capture Super HDR photographs in its stock camera software beginning with the Galaxy S24 series. The company also said that Super HDR and other image and video processing technologies will be available in third-party apps like Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and WhatsApp. These features include full-frame image capture, HDR, EIS for video stabilization, and multi-frame noise reduction. This should enhance camera quality on third-party apps and bring Android closer to the iPhone in terms of day-to-day usability.