Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Overview: Privacy Issues

For these not within the know, Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra mannequin is a love baby of two totally different smartphones—the Galaxy S collection and the Galaxy Note collection. While Samsung’s determination to merge the 2 into one lineup and kill the Note did make sense, the presence of the S Pen is what appears to be holding it again from changing into a real “Ultra”, a time period that was coined by Samsung itself, however has now been redefined by the Chinese competitors. Adding to this drawback is Samsung’s reluctance to undertake new battery applied sciences and alter its digicam {hardware}.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, in typical Samsung trend, will get us the same old core {hardware} updates just like the Galaxy S collection fashions, however, for as soon as, provides a brand new Privacy Display characteristic, a brand new video stabilisation characteristic, and quicker charging. While the final one is an incremental improve, the primary two are new options. Given that its design has additionally modified, can the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra persuade older patrons to improve?

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Design: Slimmer, Lighter And… Wobbly?

• Dimensions – 163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9mm
• Weight – 214g
• Durability – IP68

The Galaxy S26 Ultra does feel and look acquainted, but it surely has been upgraded within the typical Samsung means. Its design is now 0.3mm thinner than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which can not look like a lot, however this additionally implies that the S Pen has grown even skinnier. It’s gotten lighter as nicely… however simply by 4 grams. So, these in search of a noticeably slimmer or lighter Galaxy S26 Ultra won’t discover these upgrades thrilling.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has an IP68 ranking for mud and water resistance

Its flat-sided body is now manufactured from aluminium (probably as a result of Apple ditched titanium), but it surely feels inflexible and stable, with no flex. Oddly, Samsung’s design magic (or total slimmer profile) has made the machine lighter than the earlier one. Whether the aluminium body is as sturdy as a titanium one is one thing solely time will inform. But the machine felt premium and wasn’t too heavy.

Since we’re speaking about sturdiness, it might have been good to have an IP69 ranking for a tool that prices upwards of Rs. 1.3 lakh. IP68 nonetheless offers sufficient safety in opposition to mud and water, however Samsung doesn’t cowl injury attributable to water ingress, so it isn’t advisable to take it for an underwater shoot in your subsequent trip.

Its thick rear digicam module means the telephone is all the time tilted when positioned on a flat floor

While its design undoubtedly meets expectations for a big premium smartphone, I’m not a fan of the brand new digicam structure, which locations 3 rear cameras on a raised, capsule-shaped glass slab. It protrudes fairly a bit, and its odd placement makes the telephone extraordinarily wobbly when positioned on a desk or a flat floor. This makes it extraordinarily annoying to kind on or use, so I needed to decide up the machine every time I wanted to make use of it (even at my work desk). What’s extra, is that this odd rear-camera placement makes the telephone tilt in direction of the left, which simply feels odd, as I’ve the behavior of putting my telephones to the left of my laptop computer or desktop (keyboard) when working.

The telephone has gotten simply 0.3mm slimmer, so upgraders will not discover a distinction

The S Pen, attributable to area restrictions, has gotten even thinner and now looks like a twig. It has the identical buttons and will get the job performed, but it surely nonetheless lacks Bluetooth, so it can’t be used as a digicam distant like on the Galaxy S24 Ultra and former fashions.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Display: Innovative, however Not the Best

• Display dimension – 6.9-inch, 1,440 x 3,120 pixels, 500 PPI
• Display kind – 8-bit, LTPO AMOLED, 1-120Hz
• Display safety – Corning Gorilla Armour 2

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s show is each an improve and a downgrade. Its dimension and borders are just like these of the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s panel. It additionally has the useful anti-reflective coating from the earlier mannequin, which helps lower glare drastically when considered outdoor.

Privacy Display is the headlining characteristic of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. When activated, it virtually magically prevents the particular person subsequent to you from seeing what you don’t need them to. Unlike an off-the-shelf privateness display screen guard, it isn’t all the time on or lively. You can change it on when in a crowded area with too many prying eyes, and switch it off whenever you need not.

It additionally comes with three privateness ranges or modes. The first one is the Conditions mode, which can neatly forestall individuals round you from viewing sure apps, PINs, patterns, and passwords being punched in, together with notification pop-ups. The Privacy Display expertise principally covers sure components completely and precisely on this mode, in order that it is solely seen to the consumer and to not the particular person sitting close by.

The Privacy Display characteristic has three ranges of privateness, with the Maximum Privacy setting (final picture) fully blocking the view

The second degree is a primary Privacy Display mode that reduces visibility to some extent for somebody peeking at your show. Unlike the primary mode, it blocks out (or reduces) the viewing angles of something and every part on the show for somebody sitting subsequent to them. However, it’s attainable for somebody sitting subsequent to you to readjust their head and nonetheless take a peek.

The third mode is the best one and comes at the price of lowered readability, saturation and distinction. Once Maximum Privacy Protection is switched on, the entire show actually seems greyed out to somebody sitting subsequent to you. Unlike mode two, it is actually laborious to see or inform what the consumer is as much as in any respect. While some patrons could preserve the telephone on on this mode on a regular basis, it makes the show seem washed out and never completely legible, so it must be activated solely when required.

Now, it’s a must to perceive that the Privacy Display characteristic is not magic. It’s a {hardware} characteristic referred to as Flex Magic Pixel (FMP) that, at its most elementary, switches off or lowers the brightness of sure pixels on the show, permitting solely the consumer holding the telephone to view delicate info. This is feasible due to a redesigned multi-layer black matrix construction and LEAD 2.0 polariser tech by Samsung Display.

Simply defined, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s distinctive show panel has two forms of pixels. The kind that permits vast viewing angles might be individually switched off or made dimmer when not wanted, letting solely the consumer holding the telephone view that patch or the show.

As sharp and vibrant because it seems, Samsung nonetheless sticks to 8-bit color depth, whereas most producers provide 10-bit or 12-bit panels

As modern because it sounds, the utilization of an 8-bit (color depth) panel is unrelated to the FMP expertise. So, it is not clear why Samsung refuses to make use of a 10-bit, or even a 12-bit, show just like the one on the lower-priced Xiaomi 17 I reviewed. Samsung’s cell Digital Natural Image engine (mDNIe) show engine does assist cut back color gradients. So there’s not a lot to complain about on this regard.

That stated, I’ve seen a light blue tint when viewing the show off-centre, which I have not seen on high-end shows in a very long time. The anti-reflective coating additionally works nice, decreasing glare drastically when utilizing the machine outdoor. However, the coating/layer, which creates a type of gentle matte end, does make the show smudgy. Lastly, not like most flagships that supply each HDR10+ and Dolby Vision assist, Samsung solely affords the previous.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Software: Even More AI

• Android model – 16
• Software – One UI 8.5
• Software dedication – 7 years OS + 7 years SMRs

Samsung’s One UI 8.5 has not seen an entire UI overhaul and nonetheless seems similar to the earlier model. However, there are some new and improved bits sprinkled throughout. The most noticeable one is the edge-to-edge structure for the Quick Panel, which is now simpler to customize and a bit like Apple’s iOS 26. Also new and familiar-looking in iOS 26 is the floating tab bar design aspect that seems in most native apps for simpler navigation. Those that do not have the floating tab bar often have the same search bar on the backside, which is helpful. Not a lot has modified in wallpapers or themes, however we do have some new, rounded 3D icons.

Samsung’s floating tab bar design is seen right here in its Gallery app

As for options, there’s extra AI. You can now select between three AI fashions, and all of them are well-integrated in their very own particular means. Google’s Gemini is the default voice assistant, however it’s also possible to use the better-integrated Bixby and obtain and use Perplexity as nicely, as it’s now additionally deeply built-in into One UI. Bixby has gotten extra helpful and might now discover and modify settings for you utilizing voice instructions, which I actually appreciated. Depending on the question, it may possibly even present you a slider or a toggle within the card itself, like on iOS.

Samsung’s AI instruments get extra highly effective with One UI 8.5

But there’s extra! While Samsung’s Galaxy AI did a superb job with picture enhancing and erasing, it has now been upgraded to deal with common photograph edits higher utilizing voice instructions. Since Samsung’s Galaxy AI mannequin powers this expertise, you may merely converse what’s in your thoughts, and the instrument will think about it. Yes, it may possibly now add and manipulate photos other than the same old edits as nicely, and it shockingly seems fairly real looking, as might be seen within the screenshot above. Creative Studio, out there within the Notes app, is one other instrument that works in the same method, however through the use of S Pen inputs. All it’s a must to do is sketch your thought out, and it rapidly brings your concepts to life.

You can now get assist with discovering and modifying settings utilizing voice instructions

Galaxy AI additionally finds its means into extra locations. There’s a brand new Now Nudge characteristic which works in a way just like Google’s Magic Cue, out there on its Pixel gadgets. Samsung’s prompts or info chips are presupposed to be extra helpful and recommend much more info (like Photos it present in your Gallery app) associated to the on-screen dialog. But from the few weeks I’ve been utilizing the assessment unit, I’ve not seen a single suggestion seem on the Samsung keyboard.

The much-awaited agentic AI talents, whereby the AI communicates with different apps and executes instructions to finish duties (like reserving an Uber) was not useful in India on the time of penning this assessment.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Performance: As It Should Be

• Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (for Galaxy), 4.74GHz, 3nm
• RAM – 12/16GB, LPDDR5X
• Storage – 256/512/1TB, UFS 4.0

Since it’s a flagship machine centered on productiveness, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is anticipated to supply nothing however the perfect in uncooked efficiency. This yr, now we have one other customised chipset within the type of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, and it’s constructed to tackle any job, be it productiveness, digicam smarts, AI or gaming. There’s additionally a big vapour chamber cooling system in place to make sure efficiency would not take a success below stress.

As you may inform from the desk above, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, regardless of having a pixel-dense QHD+ panel, managed to ship spectacular numbers in our benchmark assessments. Our assessment unit was geared up with 12GB of RAM, and so on a regular basis multitasking and even heavy video games like Genshin Impact ran easily at most settings. The solely app that managed to get the telephone sizzling was the digicam app. Whether taking pictures images or recording video, it does make the telephone sizzling, but it surely didn’t get abnormally sizzling like the thin Galaxy S25 Edge I reviewed final yr. The telephone handles warmth fairly nicely as compared and by no means confirmed an overheating warning or requested to shut the digicam app, regardless of taking pictures 4K video samples again to again below the afternoon solar.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Cameras: Well-Equipped… however Far From Perfect

• Primary digicam – 200-megapixel, f/1.4, PDAF, OIS
• Telephoto digicam – 10-megapixel, f/2.4, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
• Telephoto digicam – 50-megapixel, f/2.9, PDAF, OIS, (periscope) 5x optical zoom
• Ultrawide digicam – 50-megapixel, f/1.9, PDAF, 120-degree
• Selfie digicam – 12-megapixel, f/2.2, PDAF

Samsung’s digicam {hardware} stays the identical for one more yr, with some minor changes

As you may inform from the factors above, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s digicam setup stays largely the identical, with solely minor modifications. The main digicam and the 50-megapixel periscope telephoto digicam now have a wider aperture, which ought to end in barely higher efficiency, however we aren’t anticipating something spectacular or vastly totally different from the earlier mannequin.

The color tone is kind of heat (or yellowish), as noticed with all cameras and is usually saturated in a really Samsung means. There are instances when the pictures additionally seem oversaturated. The firm has additionally gone with a barely contrasted look, which provides some depth to all photos. These will attraction to the bigger shopper viewers, however undoubtedly not the fanatic crowd. You can head to the ‘Pro mode’ to get extra real looking or pure colors which might be a real illustration of the particular scene.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra ultrawide digicam samples (faucet photos to develop)

The ultrawide digicam does a superb job of capturing images with an exaggerated subject of view. Since the digicam has autofocus, it produces spectacular photos even in odd lighting situations, as within the pattern proven above, which was captured at daybreak. In broad daylight, images have good element and present good dynamic vary as nicely.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra main digicam samples (faucet photos to develop)

Samples from the first digicam seem fairly pure. There’s no oversharpening as we see on most flagships today. The dynamic vary is sweet, and so are the main points. Portraits additionally come out nicely with this digicam, however have a hotter tone than the selfie digicam. In low-light or street-lit settings, issues aren’t as spectacular. Low-light images have the identical lighting and color properties as daylight images. But they’re a bit smooth, low on resolved element and lack the marginally contrasted processing of the daylight images. I even tried switching to max auto Night mode (which will increase the seize period), however there have been minor positive aspects. Indeed, that is fairly the other of what I anticipated to see from a 200-megapixel main sensor.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 3x telephoto digicam samples (faucet photos to develop)

The 3X telephoto digicam is a little bit of a thriller. Unlike the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will get a 10-megapixel unit that weirdly produces 12-megapixel images, for causes greatest identified to Samsung. Photos captured in daylight have good world properties however seem a bit smooth with much less resolved element (most likely because of the upscaling). In low gentle, photos seem softer, regardless that the images look superb in any other case.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 5x periscope telephoto digicam samples (faucet photos to develop)

One digicam that does get the ‘Ultra’ branding proper is the 5X periscope telephoto digicam. It doesn’t have the floating telephoto functionality like on some Chinese flagships, and so it’s a must to preserve a minimal distance of at the least 60 centimetres out of your topic/object, however the outcomes do look good. The lossless 10X images additionally pack good element, however something past it (30X final pattern above) does have that enhanced look.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra selfie digicam pattern (faucet picture to develop)

Selfies pack good element, sharpness and dynamic vary. These are weirdly not as color correct (when it comes to pores and skin tones) because the Portrait mode images from the rear-facing main digicam. But I seen that the sting detection wasn’t up to speed, trimming my hair, ears and even clothes in broad daylight. Selfies captured in low-light settings present the identical total traits, however the colors seem a bit washed out.

Videos recorded at 4K decision look nice! Autofocus is fast and correct. There’s wonderful stabilisation, a gentle bitrate and good dynamic vary, guaranteeing loads of element even within the contrasted scenes. The ultra-wide digicam does seem a bit dreamy in brilliant daylight, however the 3X and 5X telephoto cameras do present good high quality footage with that additional attain. Things stay the identical in low-light settings with good stabilisation, dynamic vary and spectacular noise management. HDR10+ video recordings additionally look detailed and vibrant with wonderful dynamic vary, even in low-light with some noise.

Selfie video recordings even have good high quality and might be recorded at 4K decision. The degree of element and bitrate are completely superb, however I did discover that the digicam couldn’t deal with brilliant backgrounds in some settings (brilliant afternoons), which led to brilliant spots and clipped highlights even after turning on HDR.

The telephone also can shoot 8K 30 fps video, and it comes out nicely with a clean and regular bitrate and packs plenty of element at the price of considerably larger storage. However, in low-light it isn’t as spectacular, regardless that noise is below management, because the footage seems a bit smooth. I additionally tried out the brand new Horizon lock video mode, which is accessible by way of the stabilisation settings within the app. It works rather well and might document at QHD decision (30/60 fps). Samsung’s stabilisation trick is proscribed to the aircraft perpendicular to your topic, so transferring alongside your topic/pet appears to be the one approach to make good use of it, offered you may sustain and maintain your telephone up on the similar time.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Battery: Surprisingly Good

• Battery capability – 5,000mAh, Li-ion
• Wired charging – 60W, PD 3.0
• Wireless charging – 25W, Qi 2.2
• Charger within the field – No

With an enormous pixel-rich show, I didn’t anticipate the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra to final even half so long as it did. But the mixture of a power-efficient chipset and an LTPO panel did work wonders for this behemoth’s average-sized battery regardless of sticking to the QHD+ decision. On most days, I did get a few day and a half of informal use. But pushing it with heavy digicam use will see the battery contact the 20 p.c mark by the top of the day. PCMark’s Battery life check managed a median rating of 15 hours and 44 minutes, which is about two hours greater than the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Charging speeds have improved, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra charged to 51 p.c in half-hour and 93 p.c in an hour, reaching a totally charged state in 1 hour and 11 minutes utilizing a third-party 100W charger. While these figures are almost the identical because the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s, we’re fairly positive that utilizing Samsung’s 60W energy adapter could also be barely quicker.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Verdict

On paper, Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn’t look like a giant leap. Yes, the brand new Privacy Display is helpful, however I might not time period it as a necessity. There can also be a small probability that Samsung might turn out to be the trendsetter right here, with different manufacturers following go well with within the coming yr. The quicker charging speeds didn’t appear noticeably totally different. But what I might have liked to see was built-in magnetic wi-fi charging, like on Apple’s iPhones and Google’s Pixel 10 Pro.

When in comparison with different flagships, Samsung’s reluctance to vary its digicam {hardware} and battery tech is slowly holding it again. While Apple can afford to carry again or “gatekeep” options from its ever-growing consumer base. Samsung’s smartphone shipments point out that patrons are getting bored with seeing smaller {hardware} enhancements with slowing gross sales. And this can get extra noticeable as the present yr progresses.

For now, Google’s Pixel 10 Pro XL (from Rs. 1,24,999) and Xiaomi’s 17 Ultra (from Rs. 1,39,999) are its opponents in India. While the Pixel 10 Pro XL is not as succesful on the {hardware} entrance, Pixel UI is a stable, bloatware-free various to Samsung’s bloated One UI 8.5 and likewise helps magnetic charging. Xiaomi’s 17 Ultra, with its Leica partnership, brings new and higher imaging {hardware} and longer-lasting silicon-carbon battery tech, which ought to make its means into the palms of images fanatics. Samsung’s notion as a productivity-first machine (particularly with its S Pen) will attraction primarily to Samsung followers, who’re undeniably bigger in quantity than the previous two. But if these followers already personal the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I see no have to improve to the brand new mannequin until customers discover the Privacy Display an absolute necessity.

Adding to the stress are the rumours about some new “Ultras” coming into the Indian market. Vivo’s X300 Ultra and Oppo Find X9 Ultra (in the end) are anticipated to debut in India this yr as nicely, which can current a problem for Samsung’s unchanged digicam system.