Samsung’s smartphone webcam feature could be exclusive to their laptops

If there is one thing the pandemic revealed to us is that most of our webcams suck. This is why many camera makers started to introduce the ability to turn their cameras into webcams. It is also why companies like Google enabled a similar feature for their Pixel phones. Samsung is also expected to follow suit and now more details have surfaced about Samsung’s smartphone webcam feature.

At CES, Samsung and Microsoft announced a partnership enabling Galaxy phones to integrate with Windows PCs. It remains unclear whether all Windows PCs would be supported, but a recent report from Android Police suggests the integration could be exclusive to Samsung’s Galaxy Book series of laptops.

This is according to a tip off from Reddit user FragmentedChicken. They point to a listing on Samsung’s Korean website for the Galaxy Book 4 Pro. It mentions in a footnote that only Galaxy phones running One UI 6.0 or later will be able to use the feature. It also says that a requirement is a Galaxy Book series computer.

If you’re not a Galaxy Book owner, then you could be out of luck. It sounds like Samsung is trying to establish its own ecosystem like Apple. Apple already allows iPhone owners to use their smartphones as a webcam with a Mac computer.

If this is true, it is kind of a bummer for non-Galaxy Book owners. But if you do own one, then you can look forward to Samsung’s smartphone webcam feature when it is released in the coming months.