- Privacy display is pretty nifty
- Fast performance and solid battery life
- Improved cameras
- More expensive than last year's model
- Cameras still aren't as good as rivals
- Downgraded S Pen
After a few years of muted hardware upgrades, the Galaxy S26 Ultra feels like Samsung’s most significant step forward in a while. You get the prerequisite chipset upgrade, but this is joined by a rejigged design, two upgraded cameras, a "privacy display", and a few other bells and whistles like faster charging speeds. It’s like Samsung remembered there is more to a phone than AI features.
Don’t get me wrong, Samsung hasn’t taken its foot off the AI pedal. There are still new AI features, and once again, they’re a mixed bag. But they’re balanced out by hardware features that can actually make a meaningful difference, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra feels fresher as a result.
Genuinely, actually new
Let’s start with the biggest upgrades. The “privacy display” is an all-new feature that uses a combination of software and hardware to obscure your screen to onlookers. When the privacy display is switched on, viewing angles are reduced for anyone not directly in front of the screen. You can choose to simply have it switched on all of the time, but what’s more interesting is that you can have it turn on automatically on a per-app basis. You might only want the privacy display to turn on if you’re in a banking app, for example.
The privacy display can also hide certain parts of the screen, such as your notification bubbles or anywhere you need to enter a pin. The fact it doesn’t need to be all or nothing is pretty nifty.
They’re also useful because even if you’re concerned about someone looking at your screen, you’re unlikely to want to have the privacy display switched on all the time. Toggling the setting noticeably washes out the screen, dampening otherwise lovely colours and making blacks look grey.
I don’t think the privacy display is the kind of feature that is going to move units by itself, but it is great to see a genuinely new hardware feature. Especially one that’s the first of its kind.
@whistleout_au Samsung introduced the S26 Ultra with Privacy Display today. It is a nifty little feature that plays with the shape and brightness of pixels to keep prying eyes off your phone. We got hands on with it before the launch. Here's what we think. #innovation #techtips #wifi #smartliving #techdeals #technews #samsunggalaxy #s26ultra #samsungultra #privacydisplay #techreview ♬ original sound - WhistleOut Australia
On the camera front, the Galaxy S26 Ultra features a new 200MP primary lens and a new 50MP 5x telephoto lens. The resolution is unchanged on the lenses when compared to recent models, but both lenses have a faster aperture. Faster apertures allow the lenses to gather light faster, which can improve low-light photography and reduce motion blur.
When comparing to the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the improvement in low-light imaging is easy to spot. Images are more detailed and sharper on both upgraded lenses. Samsung has also addressed a long-standing issue where night mode photos were prone to artifacting, especially when shooting the sky.
But while the Galaxy S26 Ultra camera experience is a step up compared to Samsung’s own devices, you’ll still get a more reliable photography experience from pretty much any other flagship phone. For example, the new 5x lens still struggled to get a good shot at a concert I was at last weekend. The vast majority of my photos from the telephoto simply weren’t usable.
While gigs are a challenging environment for smartphone photography, the zoom lenses on iPhone 17 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro typically manage more hits than misses.
What’s on offer certainly isn’t bad, but if mobile photography is your main priority, I’d consider an alternative to the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra camera samples
Check out these camera samples taken on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
Faster and longer lasting
When it comes to performance, you can’t fault the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s newest high-end chip, the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5, and honestly, there’s nothing of concern to note. However, in Australia, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the only Galaxy S26 model powered by a Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 chipset. The standard Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus use Samsung’s in-house Exynos 2600 instead. While the Exynos 2600 certainly isn’t a bad chip, the Snapdragon is the better option overall.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is still powered by a 5,000mAh cell, but battery life is a little longer - presumably due to the chipset being more efficient. I was consistently able to get around seven hours of screen time per charge, which translates to a full day of moderate usage with a very comfortable buffer. This should be more than enough for most users, but it does fall short of the battery performance we’ve seen on devices like the iPhone 17 Pro Max and OPPO Find X9 Pro. When testing the Find X9 Pro, I was able to get as much as ten hours of screen time per charge.
While the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s battery has changed, Samsung has increased charging speeds. A 30-minute charge is now enough to take the Galaxy S26 Ultra from flat to around 75%. The Galaxy S26 Ultra also supports Qi2-style 25W wireless charging speeds, but doesn’t have integrated magnets like MagSafe or Pixelsnap. Most of Samsung’s official cases do have a magnet in them; however, it would be nice if they were also integrated into the device itself.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra continues to be Samsung’s only phone with a stylus. The S Pen endures. However, like last year, the S Pen is a little more basic. It no longer has Bluetooth this time around, and as such, no longer supports features like remote camera shutter and Air Actions.
Like previous Galaxy S devices, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will get seven years of major operating system upgrades and seven years of security updates. That’s the best you’ll get in an Android phone, and on par with what Google promises for its Pixel devices.
Component crisis casualties
Every Galaxy S26 phone got more expensive this year, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s base model only got a $50 price hike. It now starts at $2,199, up from $2,149 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra last year. For comparison, the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus both saw a $150 increase on their base models.
The situation is a little rougher if you’re after a 512GB or 1TB model, with Samsung upping prices on those configurations by $250 and $200, respectively. That takes outright pricing to $2,499 for the 512GB and $2,949 for the 1TB. While those prices are pretty steep, they are still a little cheaper than the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro Max configurations.
It is also worth mentioning, that at the time of writing, you can save up to $700 on a Galaxy S26 Ultra if you pick it up on a plan from Telstra, Optus, or Vodafone. The discount is divided by the length of your repayment term, and on a 36-month plan, you’ll save $19.44 per month on the cost of the phone.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 256GB Plans
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#1
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Optus
$60 Optus Choice Plus Plan
$83.40/mth
Min. cost $2,237.88
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#2
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Vodafone
Editor's Pick
$58 Small Plan
$92.19/mth
Min. cost $2,243.88
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#3
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Telstra
$84 Essential Upfront Mobile Plan
$135.08/mth
Min. cost $2,272.88
Link not supplied
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The obligatory AI part
Samsung may have focused more on hardware this year, but there are naturally new Galaxy AI features too. The big new one is Now Nudge, a take on Google’s Magic Cue from the Pixel 10 family. Now Nudge is meant to pop up when you’re messaging to provide contextual suggestions. For example, if someone asks you if you’re free on a certain day, the Now Nudge bar will show you appointments in your calendar.
This is the kind of AI feature that I can see being genuinely useful, but in my time testing the Galaxy S26 Ultra, it never came up in organic usage. I was able to prompt it by messaging myself specific questions, but otherwise, Now Nudge was nowhere to be seen.
Samsung also says it has made its Now Bar is meant to be more proactive. For example, if there is something in your calendar with an address, and there is traffic, Now Bar might suggest you leave earlier. Once again, I didn’t experience this in my day-to-day usage. It also isn’t that novel; I already get Apple Maps notifications that do exactly the same thing on my iPhone. This doesn’t really feel like an “AI” feature.
The last big addition to the Galaxy AI feature set is image manipulation tools, allowing you to add elements to your photos rather than just remove. Samsung is far from the first to do this, but without spending too much time diving into the ethics, I do question if this is necessary in a world rife with misinformation. A Samsung spokesperson told me they expect its customers to mostly use the tech for fun - like adding a party hat on a dog - but that doesn’t necessarily outweigh the societal consequences.
AI-manipulated images are watermarked, but it takes seconds to crop. There is also metadata that states the image is manipulated, but taking a screenshot strips it. Samsung is far from the only company culpable here, but despite launching the functionality much later than brands like Google, it hasn’t made any progress on reducing the potential for harm.
Similarly, Samsung’s guardrails were very easy to bypass. While the image manipulation tool will refuse to add hard drugs into a photo, the correct euphemism can trick the Galaxy S26 Ultra into creating incriminating photos. It only took two attempts to add illicit paraphernalia to a photo of my dog. Billie had a brat era, but not like that.
A photo of a dog smoking or enjoying a harder substance is pretty funny, but it’s problematic when the same tech can be used on photos of humans.
At the very least, there is no longer the looming threat of Samsung charging for Galaxy AI. The company has confirmed that “basic AI” features will remain free to use, which is a change from its older phrasing that suggested Galaxy AI could come with a subscription fee from 2026 on.
It’s also worth noting that Samsung debuted a new Gemini feature (that will also work on Pixel phones) that can book an Uber for you alongside the Galaxy S26 family. This currently isn’t available in Australia, so it’s not something I’ve been able to test.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra - Final Thoughts
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is a course correction for Samsung, a more ambitious hardware offering that lives up to the Ultra moniker. It feels like Samsung has realised it can’t rely on AI features to sell phones when every single manufacturer is doing AI, and as such, put a stronger foot forward with Galaxy S26 Ultra itself.
That being said, the Galaxy S26 Ultra still probably isn’t exciting enough to convert people from other brands. There aren’t any issues with any of its core competencies, but at the same time, it isn’t best in class for any of them. It isn’t hard to find a phone with a better camera or longer battery, for example. There is always the privacy display, but that feels more like a value add rather than a core selling point.
Nonetheless, it is nice that Samsung fans get a more significant upgrade this year, and hopefully, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is a sign that the manufacturer is taking its competition more seriously.
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Alex Choros
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