Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: There's a Catch

Privacy Display trade-offs

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra's new "Privacy Display" halves resolution and lowers peak brightness. It's a trade-off for a unique feature that limits viewing angles, but the display is still slightly worse overall. Other updates are minor.

• 🔲 Privacy Display works by turning off wide-angle pixels, reducing resolution and brightness.
• 📐 The phone is slightly thinner and lighter, but has rounder corners making the S Pen insertion one-way.
• 🪨 Switching back to aluminum sides from titanium is a cosmetic change.
• 🚀 The new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy offers expected performance gains, with a focus on AI.
• 🔋 Battery life is slightly better due to efficiency, with faster 60W charging.

A person holds up a blue Samsung phone, showing its rear camera array.