Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: Iterative hardware, magical software

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Samsung’s latest flagship has landed, and as has been the trend for the past few years, it’s more of an iterative update than a reinvention, even for the Galaxy S26 Ultra I’m reviewing here.

It has a more rounded design, a wider aperture on some of the cameras, faster charging, the obligatory upgrade to the latest Snapdragon chip, and that’s about it for hardware changes.

Thankfully, there’s more to explore than meets the eye. Samsung has given us a groundbreaking new screen technology called Privacy Display, some amazing software additions to the camera app, and plenty of AI-powered features, too.

The question is, does the world-first screen tech and software tweaks offer enough to make this a worthy upgrade, or can S25 Ultra owners skip this one without fear of missing out? I’ve been using it as my main device for the past couple of weeks to bring you the final verdict.

Design & Build

• A thinner, more rounded design
• Sturdy with Corning Gorilla Armor 2
• New colours and an annoying S Pen tweak

The Samsung S26 Ultra looks familiar, but there are just enough changes here to differentiate it from its predecessors – if you look close enough. The new phone features more rounded corners than the last, fully ditching the sharp corners of previous Ultras, and matching the other phones in the S26 lineup.

The S26 Ultra looks nice, but I can’t help but feel it has lost a part of its identity. In the past, you could spot the Ultra immediately, as the sharp edges made it stand out from the rest of the lineup. Now, though, you could easily get it confused with the S26+, as it’s only the two small extra camera rings that give it away.

it’s easily the most comfortable Samsung Ultra flagship to hold horizontally

On the plus side, it’s easily the most comfortable Samsung Ultra flagship to hold horizontally. The sweeping radius means you aren’t in for any uncomfortable palm-poking, and that might make all the difference during marathon Genshin Impact sessions.

Another big design change is with the camera lenses. The three largest lenses are now raised on a little island, with their usual traffic light-style layout, and the bezels are much slimmer this time. 

It’s quite similar to the design of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, and I think it looks quite nice, but it does come with a downside. When you place the phone screen-up on a desk, it’s super wobbly, more so than any of the previous generations and most rivals. A case may be a must, even in this single respect.

As for the construction, it’s largely similar to the last generation. With anti-reflective Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on the front, and matt-finish Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear. What has changed, though, is the frame.

Samsung has quietly lost its titanium frame, going back to the brand’s usual Armor Aluminium instead. Apple did the same with the 17-series, and no one seemed to care too much, so Samsung has gone the same way. I can’t say I’m convinced titanium made a huge difference to durability, but it’s technically a downgrade nonetheless.

Stylus fans will be pleased to hear that the S-Pen is still included, but the new shape of the phone means it now bends around the corner slightly. Fundamentally, it works the exact same way, but you now have to remember to put it in the correct orientation, otherwise it’ll stick out in an odd way.

I’ve found this change the most frustrating, as it’s much easier to knock the S-Pen and pop it out by accident. Of course, if you’re using a case, even a super-slim one, then the problem will be eliminated, but caseless warriors will need to be careful.

When it comes to colour options, the S26 Ultra is available in four shades. There’s Black, White, Sky Blue, and Cobalt Violet. If you order directly from Samsung, there’s also Pink Gold and Silver Shadow to choose from.

I have the hero Cobalt Violet model in for testing, and I’m quite fond of the look. The colour shifts dramatically in different lighting conditions; at times, it looks almost silver, and at others, the deep purple hues shine through.

Screen & Speakers

• Essentially the same huge 6.9-inch AMOLED panel
• New world-first Privacy Display feature
• Upgraded stereo speakers

The basic display specifications for the S26 Ultra match those of its predecessor; however, behind the scenes, some very clever engineering has gone into this panel.

It’s all to enable a new feature called Privacy Display, which is a combination of hardware and software and can prevent your screen from being viewed at an angle. It’s perfect if you need to read a sensitive email on a train, for example.

It’s perfect if you need to read a sensitive email on a train

As I understand it, about half of the pixels (‘narrow pixels’) on the screen have tiny rings like lenses around them, which prevent light from shining out to the sides. The other half (‘wide pixels’) behaves normally.

When you turn on Privacy Display, you’re mainly or only using the narrow pixels, which makes the screen look like it’s turned off when viewed from around 45 degrees off-axis and higher (both horizontally and vertically).

Obviously, there’s a caveat here. Since the screen isn’t using all of the available pixels with Privacy Display activated, it’s lower resolution and dimmer, too. As a result, it’s not something you’d want to leave enabled all of the time.

Thankfully, the software makes that easy to manage. You can quickly toggle the feature on and off in the quick settings panel, or you can set it to automatically enable during certain events.

I set mine to activate whenever I opened my banking app, and also had it protect pop-up notifications and password fields. I think it’s especially cool that the feature can be confined to certain areas of the display. Once it’s all set up, you might forget it’s doing anything – but nosey neighbours won’t.

There have been some early complaints about the quality of the S26 Ultra’s screen, even with the Privacy Display switched off, including blurry text and eye strain, but I’ve not had those problems and Samsung also refutes these claims. There’s a chance, like 3D, that some users may not get on with how the display works.

Aside from this clever new trick, which is the main reason to buy (or perhaps avoid) the phone, the display is pretty much identical to last year’s.

Samsung knows a thing or two about displays, and although the S26 Ultra might not offer a spec bump to excite the screen nerds, I still think it’s one of the best-looking screens on the market.

It’s bright enough for the outdoors, it’s crisp, detailed, and the colours are rich and vibrant. What’s not to like? Plus, you get that awesome anti-reflective glass coating, which is still exclusive to the Ultra, and makes a noticeable difference compared to traditional glass displays.

Samsung’s ProScaler technology has been upgraded for this generation, too, and it makes low-res content look even better, as it automatically upscales and sharpens everything on your screen.

The speakers seem to be the same as they were on the past few Samsung Ultra phones, and that’s alright with me. They’re still among the best of any phone, with plenty of clarity, no distortion, and more bass than most.

Unfortunately, my chief complaint remains relevant. The right speaker is very easy to muffle with your palm (when held in landscape mode) – I suspect the S-Pen is to blame for this awkward positioning, but it continues to be an annoyance.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
• Up to 16GB RAM
• Up to 1TB storage

The S26 and S26 Plus received the Exynos treatment in Europe, but the Ultra still gets Qualcomm’s latest and greatest SoC. As usual, it’s a special “For Galaxy” version, which essentially equates to a slight overclock, and should give this phone an edge over other Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-powered handsets.

The RAM and storage options are the same as last year, and if you want 16GB of RAM, you’ll need to shell out for the pricey 1TB model. The other variants are only available with 12GB of RAM. I have been testing the base model for the purposes of this review.

To noone’s surprise, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a rocket

To noone’s surprise, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a rocket. You can easily max out the settings in pretty much any Android game, and heavy computational tasks like editing multiple streams of 4K video are no issue at all.

Samsung has re-engineered the thermal solution for this model. It features the largest vapor chamber that Samsung has ever put in a phone, and the Thermal Interface Material has been repositioned, which should make the phone stay cooler for longer.

With my normal use, the phone rarely got too warm, but despite Samsung’s best efforts, it still seems somewhat thermally constrained. Running the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme Stress Test, the phone got super hot and posted a stability score of just 59.5%. It’s not the worst we’ve seen, but it’s notably lower than the Honor Magic 8 Pro, for example.

Honestly, you only need to be worried about that if you’re really pushing the performance to the limits. I played plenty of Genshin Impact on the highest settings for hours, and it never became uncomfortable to hold. But hey, if you’ve got ambitions to emulate Steam games, it’s worth knowing about.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra benchmarks

Cameras

• Almost the same hardware as before
• New image processing
• Mind-boggling new stabilisation mode

Lately, it feels like Samsung has been upgrading one camera with each generation of Ultra, and I was almost certain that it would be the 10Mp 3x lens’ turn this year. However, that’s not what happened, and Samsung has taken a very different approach with the S26 Ultra.

The phone uses the same stack of sensors as last year, with the exception of the aforementioned 3x telephoto. Bizarrely, this tiny 10Mp sensor has been made even smaller, shrinking from 1/3.54-inch to 1/3.94-inch. I can’t fathom why. This lens was already underperforming, and this move is unlikely to improve matters.

Otherwise, the only hardware change is with the lenses. Both the 200Mp main camera and the 50Mp 5x telephoto get a wider aperture, which should help improve low-light performance. The main camera has gone from f/1.7 to f/1.4, while the telephoto has gone from f/3.4 to f/2.9.

The image processing pipeline has been changed for the selfie camera, too. It now benefits from the same AI-powered signal processing as the rear cameras and the same object-aware engine for portrait mode shots.

So, while the hardware changes may be minimal, the output has the potential to be quite different. But could I see a difference in reality? I took lots of photos side by side with the older model, and honestly, the photos look almost identical.

The S26 Ultra has a tendency to look a little brighter in low light conditions, and the noise reduction has been increased slightly, but it’s a subtle change. The newer model seems to favour slightly longer exposures, which can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the situation.

I noticed the biggest difference in photos of people: faces appear slightly brighter than before, and details are slightly sharper

I noticed the biggest difference in photos of people: faces appear slightly brighter than before, and details are slightly sharper if you pixel-peep. It’s not a night-and-day change, but it’s noticeable.

With all that said, Samsung photos looked great on the previous model, and they continue to look great here. So while I would love to see some innovation, the S26 Ultra is still an incredibly reliable pocket camera.

Video mode gives us more to get excited about. There’s a brand new horizontal lock stabilisation mode, which will keep the horizon level no matter how much you tilt the phone. You can even spin the phone 360 degrees, and the resulting video will look like you’re just holding it steady.

If you have professional video ambitions, the new APV codec will make the biggest difference to your footage. It’s essentially Samsung’s answer to Apple’s ProRes, providing greater image fidelity, editing flexibility, and humongous file sizes. It won’t be for everyone, but if you’re the target audience, you’re going to love it.

Battery Life & Charging

• The same 5000mAh battery
• Faster 60W wired charging
• Faster 25W wireless charging, without Qi2 magnets

The Galaxy S26 Ultra, rather disappointingly, has the same battery capacity as last year’s phone. A 5000mAh cell is nothing to be sniffed at, but with Chinese brands offering 7500mAh SiC (Silicon-carbon) and beyond, the S26 Ultra’s battery doesn’t impress too much.

In use, though, the S26 Ultra battery is perfectly sufficient. I can’t get two days from this phone like I can with the Oppo Find X9 Pro, but it still rarely fails to get me to the end of the day, even on travel days with lots of screen-on time.

When it comes to charging, we get some welcome upgrades. The S26 Ultra now charges at up to 60W with a wire, which can take you past 50% charged in just 15 minutes, or above 80% in half an hour. It’s an impressive showing – finally.

The S26 Ultra now charges at up to 60W with a wire, which can take you past 50% charged in just 15 minutes

Wireless charging has been improved, too. The S26 Ultra now supports 25W wireless charging, up from 15W. This means you can take full advantage of Qi2-compatible chargers, but the magnets are not built in as we and you hoped they would be, so you must pick up a suitable magnetic case once again.

As ever, there’s no charger in the box, just a cable, so you’ll have to buy fast enough ones to hit those speeds.

Software & Apps

• One UI 8.5, based on Android 16
• New Galaxy AI features and apps
• Bixby is back

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra runs One UI 8.5, which is based on Android 16. Fundamentally, it looks and feels like the same Samsung software that we’re all familiar with, but there are boatloads of new features to get stuck into, as well as more in-depth customisation than ever before.

There’s so much to play with here that the biggest challenge becomes remembering all the things your phone can do

You can now completely customise the layout of your Quick Settings shade. You can resize the icons, change the orientation of the sliders, the options are almost limitless. The iOS influence is noticeable here, but it looks good, and it’s very practical, so I’m fully on board.

Samsung has added even more to its already packed lineup of AI features and productivity tools. There’s so much to play with here that the biggest challenge becomes remembering all the things your phone can do, and where to find each one.

One of the biggest changes is that Bixby has returned, and it’s now a super-charged LLM-powered assistant. Handily, it ties into your phone’s settings a little better than Gemini does, so you can ask it about your phone’s capabilities or to change a setting, and it should be able to help.

Of course, you can still use Google Gemini if you prefer (though it can’t access settings), or flip-flop between the two as you see fit.

Another highlight is the new Call Screening feature (similar to Google’s on Pixel phones), which speaks to unknown callers with an AI-powered voice, asking who they are and why they’re calling. It then gives you a summary, and you can choose whether you want to pick up or not.

Now Nudge is a great time saver that’s built into Samsung’s keyboard. If you give it the required permissions, it will take your predictive text suggestions to a whole different level. For instance, if someone sends you a WhatsApp message asking for the photos from last night, Now Nudge will pull the relevant images from your gallery and suggest sending them.

Of course, there’s the usual AI party tricks built in, and you’ll probably use them once and then forget they ever existed. Photo Assist now lets you add things to images by typing, and Creative Studio is Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Image Playground, wherein you can create stickers, wallpapers, and generate plenty of other slop to annoy your friends with.

My main criticism of Samsung’s One UI is just how cluttered it has become. Samsung adds more and more features every year, rarely removing any, and it tends to add all of Google’s latest, too. As an example, it’s not exactly clear whether Samsung expects Galaxy owners to use Bixby or Gemini, and why. The same goes for a lot of other features and apps, too.

What I can’t criticise is the functionality. This OS does everything you could ever need it to, and plenty more besides. It does so while looking fresh and feeling fast as can be.

Plus, Samsung continues to offer some of the best software support terms in the business, promising seven years of OS updates and security patches, matching Google Pixel.

Price & Availability

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is available in three varieties. The base model comes with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM for £1,279/$1,299. The 512GB+12GB model costs £1,449/$1,499, and the 1TB model, which comes with 16GB of RAM, costs £1,699/$1,799.

A reminder that shopping from the Samsung store gets you access to two exclusive colours and for a limited time, including retailers like Amazon, you can double the storage for free.

This makes it one of the most expensive flagship phones on the market (ignoring foldables), putting it in competition with the likes of the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, iPhone 17 Pro Max, Xiaomi 17 Ultra and others.

Check out our guide to the best phones available right now.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra?

For the past few years, I have felt the same way every time I review a Samsung flagship phone. The keynote leaves me underwhelmed and puzzled. For instance, why, when there’s so much innovation happening elsewhere, does Samsung hardware feel so stagnant? And more specifically, why do we still have that uninspiring 10Mp 3x telephoto camera?

But then I actually start using the thing, and it wins me over yet again. The experience is premium throughout, and it leaves me with no doubts that the Galaxy S26 Ultra is one of the best Android phones available today. It’s incredibly quick, it’s packed with tons of useful features, and it still outperforms most of its rivals for video shooting.

Of course, we also get the amazing new Privacy Display technology, which is unique to this phone. It’s one of the biggest innovations in display tech we’ve seen in recent years, and it’s no gimmick, though has some downsides. Anyone who uses public transport will adore this feature. Samsung is leading the charge with its AI features, too.

So, while the Galaxy S26 Ultra isn’t the earth-shattering upgrade I was hoping for, it’s a phone that’s more than the sum of its parts. It’s an absolute delight to live with, and the only way to truly understand that is to try it for yourself.

Specs

• One UI 8.5, based on Android 16
• 6.9-inch, 1440 x 3120, AMOLED, 120Hz
• Privacy Display
• Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
• 12/16GB RAM
• 256/512GB/1TB storage
• Cameras:
• 200Mp main sensor
• 50Mp ultrawide
• 10Mp 3x telephoto
• 50Mp 5x telephoto
• 12Mp selfie camera
• Up to 8K @ 30fps rear video
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM + eSIM
• Wi-Fi 7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 5000mAh battery
• 60W wired charging
• 25W wireless charging
• 163.6 x 78.1 x 7.9mm
• IP68 certified
• 214g
• Colours: Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White
• Samsung.com exclusive colours: Silver Shadow, Pink Gold