Why your Galaxy S26 Ultra camera might fog up — and why IP68 doesn’t guarantee it won’t

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is now landing in lucky customers’ hands, and while many are undoubtedly enjoying time with their new handsets, an unlucky few have already noticed their first problems. One disconcerting issue we’ve encountered is that a few users are reporting that the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera lenses can suffer from internal condensation. This admittedly rare issue is certainly not unheard of across virtually every phone model, but it’s always worse when it happens to a brand-new flagship.

But before we all get bent out of shape about Samsung’s latest smartphone, the reports we’ve seen (and not just about the S26 Ultra) often have one thing in common — the issue occurs right after exposure to temperature and humidity extremes. Examples we’ve seen discussed include putting the phone near a car’s AC vent, leaving it near a hot bath, or even taking their handset into a sauna!

While you might think that flagship smartphones being IP68-rated would shield them from such issues, that’s not entirely true. An IP68 rating indicates the handset is resistant to dust and water ingress; it doesn’t mean it’s completely immune to everything you can throw at it. Brands are quick to highlight the freshwater and depth limitations of their water resistance, for instance. Plus, seals and glue inevitably weaken and erode over time.

Even on a brand-new phone, an IP68 rating doesn’t mean the inner body lives in a complete vacuum. While these handsets offer tight seals against dust particles and water, small gaps can still allow air and moisture to enter and leave over time, especially if the phone is exposed to pressure changes.

A closer look at the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s construction suggests the lenses pop off a little more easily than last year, quite possibly by choice to make them easier to repair. However, this may have changed the lens’s point of ingress resistance, from the lens seal to somewhere behind it. I’m speculating, but this could make the new model potentially more susceptible to fogging, though it also makes them easier to clean. In any case, take your phone into a sauna, and it’s likely the interior will slowly become humid too.

Perhaps the key point here is that smartphones are not manufactured in a completely dry environment either — some level of internal humidity is inevitable. When a phone’s interior is exposed to sharp temperature changes, say, by quickly moving from warm to cold, the cooler metal or glass can cause the moisture in the warmer interior to condense. That’s the same phenomenon that can cause condensation on the inside of your window on a cold night, and it’s almost certainly what we’re seeing in some of these reported Galaxy S26 issues involving heat and moisture.

This isn’t to say that fogging up camera lenses is normal, acceptable, or expected on a brand-new phone. If you’re a Galaxy S26 customer experiencing this issue after just a few days, you should certainly try to obtain a replacement under warranty. While condensation should clear up once internal and external temperatures equalize, repeated fogging may eventually leave marks and blemishes on your camera lens, potentially leading to poor image quality in the long term.

That said, this article is really a PSA: lens condensation is not an unforeseen issue and may not be covered under warranty. Especially if you’ve had the handset for months, as companies seldom cover damage that could have been caused by user misuse, even if it wasn’t. Apple’s water resistance page recommends not “exposing your iPhone to pressurized water or high velocity water, such as when showering” or “using your iPhone in a sauna or steam room,” for example. As we’ve discussed, those are definitely the sort of situations that could cause camera lens condensation.

I don’t want to speculate on whether these are isolated incidents with the Galaxy S26 or hints at a more worrying lapse in quality control — we simply haven’t seen enough reports to suggest this is a major problem with the series. Don’t be deterred from picking up a new Samsung flagship; just don’t expose it to humidity or temperature extremes. The same goes even if you plan to rock an older model for a while longer yet.