Samsung's Galaxy Phones and the Mystery of Fake Moon Photos

Are Samsung Galaxy phones creating fake Moon photos? That's the question that's been buzzing around the internet recently after a Reddit user seemingly tricked the feature into generating details on a blurred photo of the Moon. The feature, which is available on some Samsung models, has attracted controversy, with some users claiming that Samsung is overlaying images onto the final Moon snap.

In response to the controversy, Samsung issued a statement to Tom's Guide clarifying its position. According to the Korean smartphone brand, it is not overlaying any images onto the final Moon snap. 

When a user takes a photo of the Moon, the AI-based scene optimization technology recognizes the Moon as the main object and takes multiple shots for multi-frame composition, after which AI enhances the details of the image quality and colors. It does not apply any image overlaying to the photo.

While Samsung notes that these additional details in AI-enabled Moon snaps are indeed "detail enhancements," the Redditor's experiment raises questions about whether the phones are generating details out of thin air instead of enhancing elements that the camera can actually detect. 

Similarly, Huawei was previously accused of not fully disclosing the workings of its Moon Mode. Tests conducted by a user indicated that the Huawei P30 was inserting pre-existing imagery of the Moon into its Moon shots.