If you contextualise the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra as just another flagship generation based on new specs compared with the previous generation, it’d be fallaciously simplistic. There are of course generational steps forward in terms of the hardware and specs, and nothing less is to be expected. However, Samsung’s focus is steadfast on capabilities and finesse that defines experience. Case in point, the Privacy Display. Another case in the same point, Horizontal Lock for video recordings, to keep videos level even if your angles aren’t. One more? The APV video codec, or Advanced Professional Video. To some these may seem a generational given, but switch to another Android flagship and you’ll realise that isn’t the case.
As has often been the case with recent Galaxy flagship iterations, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung is bumping up the base spec combination from 12GB memory and 256GB storage to 12GB memory and 512GB storage for the entry spec price point of ₹1,39,999 — which they say is for a limited time; good value for early adopters, who have their credit cards dusted off and ready. The top-tier 12GB memory and 1TB storage is priced at ₹1,89,999 at this time. Once the initial base spec bump offer is done with, expect the 256GB storage variants to surface, while the 512GB storage option slots in-between.
Chances are, pure spec upgrades may not excite you as much now, and that’s precisely why I shall talk about a feature that does give us a reason. The Privacy Display. It is a hardware innovation with software playing its part. This is the world’s first phone with something built at the hardware level. The magic really resides in the pixel architecture — when this mode is enabled, the pixels mode into something that can be classified as a narrow mode of illumination, straight forward and little escaping on the sides making it difficult to view contents from lateral angles. OLED display technology is meant to disperse light in a broader manner to each pixel, for better angled viewing otherwise.
On the face of it, privacy tech may not be cool enough for some, but this is simply an illustration of this era of smartphones, where innovation has largely been spec driven with little else to go with that. The accessory market is full of screen protectors that claim similar privacy from side viewing, but unlike those (which variable results as well), Samsung’s deployment isn’t a forced solution. It can be turned on and off as a user’s will, and even configured for specific apps. Banking apps and two-factor authentication apps, one would assume, immediate beneficiaries.
In our experience, this works brilliantly, in default setting as well as the more powerful “maximum privacy protection” setting. There is very little someone sitting beside you can make out about the contents on the screen in the former, and it’s absolutely akin to hitting a wall on the latter. That said, when this is enabled, there is a definite tint that overlays the screen even when looked at straight on, which isn’t great if your search is for colour accuracy or realism while viewing media. Logically, you can’t just turn this on and leave it that way all the time. Unless of course Samsung can optimise this with software updates in the coming months.
I fully expect this technology to be available in more Samsung products, particularly the larger screen tablets, soon. It’ll be interesting to see if the Privacy Display also makes it to the company’s foldable phones, which continue to set the benchmark in that category.
There are certain improvements across the battery and performance spectrum, as well as some new feature additions to the camera. But design differences, compared with the Galaxy S25 Ultra are minimal, albeit the newer phone is very slightly thinner and lighter (both metrics, not entirely perceptible most of the time). The reason for the additional slimness is also the switch from titanium to aluminium. You’ll have no complaints about performance, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip (the “for Galaxy” part is important, marking continued Samsung-specific customisations at chip level) now flanked by an elaborate new Vapor Chamber cooling system.
It seems to be working, because the only time the Galaxy S26 Ultra felt somewhat lukewarm was during the initial setup stage, with lots of apps and updates in progress. That’s certainly proving to be a positive for battery stamina as well, with close to 8 hours of screen time and still 30% charge left for the remainder of the day. This is, for most use cases, a very comfortable usage aspect. Mind you, Samsung is still exploring silicon-carbon for smartphone batteries, expected sometime in the future.
The moment is right to point out what I’d call Samsung’s obsession with Microsoft apps being pre-installed on the Galaxy S26 Ultra — Outlook, Copilot, OneDrive and a few more that I really cannot bother to remember. Basically, upon setup, made it a point to uninstall all Microsoft apps, since they essentially are forcing their way in on my experience with the phone. Yet, a few hours later, all apps were back — force downloaded in the background without any consent or approval from the user. They were nevertheless uninstalled again, but it is difficult to pinpoint if this is a Galaxy Store behaviour, or these uncalled for updates are being pushed through the Google Play Store. It is understandable that Microsoft may have a watertight deal in place with Samsung, but this needs fixing.
Cameras on the Galaxy S26 Ultra represent what we often call, two sides of the same coin. Top notch in terms of the hardware, that is with a 200-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, a 50-megapixel ultra wide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The main and telephoto cameras specifically have wider apertures, for better light input, since this needs more physical depth, the camera island and the modules have somewhat more pronounced height. In an era where camera makers and phone brands partner more often than not, Samsung’s reliant on in-house expertise with a dose of AI, for their image processing algorithms. A different approach, which continues to find traction with consumers.
This is building from the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which over time with refinements, became a very competent flagship-level camera (the initial stumbles can’t be forgotten, but course-correction even more appreciated). In that sense, don’t expect a leap in photography or video recording terms. Optimisations and improvements include more realistic colours in daytime shots and being less prone to lens flare in low light scenarios. There are still moments when focus isn’t quick enough to automatically lock in, and in certain photos, zooming in reveals imperfections because image processing simply couldn’t replicate the details the camera should have otherwise seen (this is particularly true in 12-megapixel and 200-megapixel settings). Again, I expect this to involve a series of updates in the coming months, to iron out the creases.
For video recordings, the Horizontal Lock will be rather useful. This uses the gyro and accelerometer on the device to keep the video recording level even if the phone is rotated 360 degrees. This is proving to be very relevant for on the move videos, and you can worry less about framing and keeping the phone levelled. The second big element is the APV, or Advanced Professional Video codec that’s been developed by Samsung in-house. If this is enabled, video recordings on the Galaxy S26 Ultra will be much larger than typical HDR videos, because every frame is encoded as a high-resolution image. For consumers, this may be an overkill, but for professional workflows, the result will be a much smoother and data intensive file to load into the editing software.
The display aspect must be addressed. Samsung’s initial communication suggested this panel is a 10-bit display, but confirmation since pegs it as an 8-bit display. As it stands, the colours are simulated to 10-bit, which in other words means the display natively handles 16.7 million colours instead of 1 billion colours, but tries to work around that. The problem isn’t that, because for most users, they’ll manage. However, the miscommunication was unexpected, and uncalled for.
Step back, and you’ll realise Samsung has made structured the Galaxy S26 Ultra to incrementally improve in some aspects, and take significant steps forward in others where the differences would matter the most. The Privacy Display is one that defines a new level of functionality which other phone makers will now scramble to try and integrate by the time their next flagship launches come around. Horizontal Lock and APV codec are significant for video recordings, while photography is more a case of refinement. Performance, battery stamina and all-round polish are definitively flagship-grade.
Samsung’s philosophy seems clear — stay ahead with relevant progression, not spec sheer drama. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has more than delivered on that.