The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra's best feature may soon be available in more and cheaper smartphones.

A 10x optical zoom "folding" telephoto camera, like the one on the S21 Ultra, is currently sold as a single component to other companies. If you don't care which brand of Android phone you buy, you can get impressive photographic hardware while saving money.

In a new blog, Samsung Electronics announced the start of mass production of a foldable 10x zoom module. According to the report, the module will be sold to both smartphone and car manufacturers, but does not name the manufacturer that will supply it.

In the foldable camera, the lens is positioned along the length and width of the phone, not the depth. This means that the overall size of the phone remains compact while providing a more effective sensor.

Although Samsung manufactures its own cell phones, Samsung Mobile is only one part of the overall company. Samsung Electronics Machinery providing camera modules to third parties is one example. There is also Samsung Display, which provides screens for many phones that directly compete with the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series, such as the iPhone 12.

This sensor, or a version of it, will likely be included in Samsung's Galaxy Note 21 Ultra, which will be released later this year. If you are looking for this kind of telephoto potential, the S21 Ultra will not be your only choice from Samsung.

You may have noticed that many Android phones released in the past few years have used similar 108MP main cameras. These are Samsung's HM series sensors, cameras designed for flagship Galaxy phones like last year's Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, but have since been sold to other smartphone manufacturers.

These high-resolution sensors have improved the photographic performance of so many devices, including the Xiaomi Mi 10 and Motorola Edge Plus. Given that we praised the 10x telephoto sensor in our review of the S21 Ultra, it will be interesting to see which other smartphone makers will adopt this sensor in their upcoming models.

Openly marketing this telephoto module does not make Samsung's own phones obsolete. Photo processing software is crucial to making great smartphone images, and Samsung's processing is among the best you can get. But what this means is that the list of the best camera phones available today may soon include new names and much cheaper devices than before.