The S26 Ultra provides better battery backup compared to the S25 Ultra, capable of lasting over a day with heavy, mixed usage at QHD+ and Always On Display.

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Equipped with the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, the S26 Ultra boasts a 19% faster CPU and 24% better GPU compared to the S25 Ultra, providing a significant performance upgrade.

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The S26 Ultra delivers a smooth and lag-free high-FPS gaming experience, with good grip from rounded edges and manageable temperatures (max 40.2°C, avg 82.3 FPS in BGMI) thanks to an improved Vapor Chamber.

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The phone achieved over 3.7 million in AnTuTu, 54% CPU throttling stability, 61.1% Wild Life Extreme Stress stability, and 183,000+ in storage read/write tests, indicating top-tier flagship performance.

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The S26 Ultra features a new chip, a wider field of view for the selfie camera, bigger aperture on the primary and telephoto lenses for better low-light photos, and a new 16GB RAM option (previously 12GB max).

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, offers excellent performance. Benchmarks show similar or slightly higher scores compared to other phones with the same chip, delivering smooth animations and handling heavy multitasking and gaming with ease, supported by an effective vapor chamber.

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The S26 Ultra offers slightly better battery life than its predecessor, despite retaining the same 5,000 mAh battery, due to a more efficient chip and software. It also charges faster, reaching a peak of 60 watts.

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The S26 Ultra surprisingly lacks Qi2 magnets for accessories and a silicon-carbon battery, features that could have significantly enhanced its battery and charging capabilities and are present in some competing devices.

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The S26 Ultra offers improved 10x optical quality zoom and enhanced video zoom up to 25x.

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The new "super steady with horizontal lock" feature acts as a built-in gimbal, maintaining a steady video image even with drastic phone movement.

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Galaxy AI offers impressive image generation capabilities to transform photos into various styles and allows altering images with text prompts while maintaining realism.

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The S26 Ultra provides very smooth gaming performance due to increased CPU and GPU performance from its overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite processor.

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The S26 Ultra offers specific privacy controls for notifications and individual applications, allowing users to selectively obscure content from side viewers.

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Nightography on the S26 Ultra's camera is improved, resulting in less noise and sharper images in low-light conditions.

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra features a redesigned, lighter, and slimmer body with more rounded corners, which significantly improves the comfort of holding the phone compared to previous boxier designs.

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra features a slim 7.9mm thickness and weighs 212 grams, making it the slimmest and lightest Ultra phone.

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The S26 Ultra introduces a 'game-changing' Privacy Display feature that blocks side views of the screen for enhanced privacy, applicable to the full screen, individual apps, or specific content.

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The S26 Ultra's camera setup, including a 200MP main sensor with a wider F1.4 aperture, offers noticeable improvements in skin texture, detailing, natural skin tones, low-light performance, and selfie clarity compared to the S25 Ultra.

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces a new, innovative Privacy Display that can be toggled on or off to instantly limit viewing angles, preventing others from seeing your screen. It can also be configured to apply only to specific apps or notifications.

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The slightly thinner, lighter, and rounder design of the S26 Ultra introduces practical issues. The S Pen now only fits into its slot one way due to a curved opening, and the larger camera plateau combined with the thinner body makes the phone rock noticeably when placed on a flat surface without a case.

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The Galaxy S26 Ultra features a completely rounded design, a significant change from older models, and has softened edges for a more comfortable feel.

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The S26 Ultra is slightly thinner at 7.9mm and negligibly lighter at 213g compared to its predecessor.

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The new privacy screen feature effectively dims the display from side angles, enhancing privacy in public, and can be configured for specific apps.

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The S26 Ultra has an Armour Aluminum frame, glass back, IP68 water resistance, and Gorilla Armor 2 screen protection, demonstrating its durability against drops and water.

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The S26 Ultra maintains its previous price, which is notable as the standard S26 and S26 Plus models have seen price increases ($799 to $899 for S26, $999 to $1099 for S26 Plus).

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The S26 Ultra includes various AI features such as useful call screening, an effective Audio Eraser, and Photo Assist. However, the reviewer finds their overall utility mixed, with some features not working reliably (e.g., Now Nudge) and many potentially rolling out to older Samsung devices via software updates, making them not a strong standalone reason to purchase the new phone.

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Samsung reverted to a simpler camera layout with frosted glass, moving away from the black camera ring design that the reviewer found cheap-looking.

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The S26 Ultra does not support MagSafe accessories, and using such accessories interferes with the functionality of the S Pen.

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The S26 Ultra runs One UI 8.5 on Android 16, promises 7 generations of OS updates and 7 years of security updates, and includes advanced Galaxy AI features, with Samsung leading in smartphone AI.

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The S26 Ultra now comes with an impressive seven years of software support. Additionally, it features incremental improvements in battery performance, providing all-day usage similar to the S25 Ultra.

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Equipped with Gorilla Glass Armor 2, the S26 Ultra offers excellent scratch resistance, as evidenced by the reviewer's long-term experience with a similar glass. It's also 4 grams lighter, with a design that feels good in hand, and the return to an aluminum frame allows for more vibrant and attractive color options.

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When the Privacy Display is active, the screen's resolution is literally cut in half, and peak brightness is reduced. Even in normal use, the display's viewing angles are slightly worse all the time, and the anti-reflective coating is not as effective as the previous model.

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra features a world-first hardware-level privacy display.

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The hardware-level privacy display effectively prevents side viewing without the significant downsides of traditional screen protectors.

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The hardware-level privacy display feature is exclusive to the S26 Ultra and cannot be enabled on older models via software update.

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The S26 Ultra's main 200 MP camera and 50 MP telephoto camera show significant brightness improvements, by 47% and 37% respectively, over the previous generation.

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The S26 Ultra features a new 'Horizontal Lock' video stabilization mode that maintains exceptionally stable video recording even when the phone is rotated 360 degrees or moved extensively.

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The S26 Ultra includes advanced AI features for photo editing, generative art, and an enhanced Bixby assistant capable of acting as an agent for complex tasks.

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The S26 Ultra's display is QHD+ and bright with attractive colors, using an 8-bit panel with FRC for improved color banding, but is not true 10-bit hardware. It exhibits a slight blue tint from side angles.

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The 'Privacy Display' feature is smartly implemented and effectively dims content from side angles, making it a genuinely useful feature for protecting on-screen privacy in public, despite color degradation when active.

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The S26 Ultra features improved main and 5x telephoto camera apertures, leading to brighter low-light photos and introduces useful video modes like APV Log for content creation, although overall photo quality is often comparable to its predecessor.

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The 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with 120Hz and Vision Booster offers a top-notch content consumption experience, similar to its predecessor.

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The phone supports 8K 30fps and 4K 60fps front video recording, along with a useful Horizon Lock feature for stable footage, especially beneficial for content creators.

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The S26 Ultra's new screen boasts 10-bit color, an anti-reflective display, and a privacy screen that works effectively without diminishing brightness or visual quality, unlike traditional privacy screen protectors.

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The S26 Ultra is highly recommended as a significant upgrade for users with an S21, S22, or S23 Ultra due to numerous advancements over several years. However, for S25 Ultra owners, the year-over-year changes are not drastic enough to necessitate an upgrade unless they are seeking the absolute latest technology.

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The S26 Ultra is presented as an ideal phone for iPhone Pro Max users looking to switch to the Samsung ecosystem. Conversely, the reviewer advises against upgrading from a Pixel 10 Pro XL unless the user is dissatisfied, emphasizing that the Pixel is still a very capable and 'amazing' phone.

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The S26 Ultra's display is a 6.9-inch OLED with 1440p resolution and a 1-120Hz refresh rate. However, it is still an 8-bit display that simulates 10-bit color, rather than a native 10-bit panel.

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Both the main camera and the 5X telephoto camera boast larger apertures, allowing more light in and creating softer bokeh. A standout feature is the new Horizon Lock stabilization, which uses the 200-megapixel sensor to deliver exceptionally stable Quad HD video up to 60fps.

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The minimum focus distance on the main camera of the S26 Ultra has noticeably gotten worse, although the phone still retains a macro mode for close-up shots.

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The S Pen has been slightly redesigned to match the phone's corner and is confirmed to be slimmer this year.

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The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra stands out with its groundbreaking Privacy Displ…