Galaxy S26 Ultra review: a privacy screen worth paying attention to

Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra went on sale yesterday, and the reviews published so far describe a quiet but well-judged update. Faster charging, a brighter main lens and a top Snapdragon chip are all welcome, but the feature that sets it apart is the built-in Privacy Display, which Samsung calls a world first for a phone.

This is a documented review: I brought together the official specs and the measured results published by testers such as Engadget, Tom’s Guide and GSMArena, then added my own verdict.

At a glance

Samsung announced the phone at Galaxy Unpacked on February 25, opened pre-orders the same day, and put it on sale on March 11.

Design, display and the Privacy Display

The S26 Ultra is 7.9 mm thick and weighs 214 g, and reviewers describe it as thinner and lighter than before. The 6.9-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X panel runs at 1440 x 3120 with a rated 2,600 nits peak.

The headline is the Privacy Display. Samsung describes the S26 Ultra as the “world’s first mobile phone with a built-in Privacy Display”, meaning people beside you see a much darker screen while you see it normally. Reviewers agree this is a genuinely new and useful feature. What caught my attention is how practical it sounds for anyone who checks banking apps or work messages on a metro or in an airport queue.

On brightness, the measurements tell two stories. GSMArena recorded 708 nits with manual brightness, 1,480 nits in auto mode and 2,800 nits at peak. Tom’s Guide measured 1,209 nits in SDR and 1,806 nits in HDR, with a very accurate Delta-E of 0.22, and found the panel dimmer than the S25 Ultra’s. Different methods, so treat each figure alongside its source.

The camera setup is a 200MP f/1.4 main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide, a 10MP 3x telephoto and a 50MP 5x periscope, with a 12MP selfie camera. Reviewers credit the wider f/1.4 aperture with better low-light shots. Tom’s Guide also notes that the camera bump makes the phone wobble on a table.

Performance, battery and charging

Inside is the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, with 12GB of memory on the 256GB and 512GB models and 16GB on the 1TB model. Tom’s Guide measured 3,785 single-core and 11,563 multi-core in Geekbench 6, while Engadget got 11,240 multi-core and 25,403 in the GPU test.

The battery is still 5,000 mAh, and three outlets ran three different tests:

• Engadget’s video rundown lasted 30 hours and 3 minutes.
• Tom’s Guide’s 5G web-surfing test at 150 nits lasted 16 hours and 10 minutes, ahead of the S25 Ultra’s 14:27 but behind the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 17:54.
• GSMArena gave it an Active Use Score of 16:23h.

These are not the same test, so the numbers should not be compared with one another. Together they point to good, not class-leading, endurance.

Charging is now 60W wired and 25W wireless. GSMArena measured 51% at 15 minutes, 84% at 30 minutes and a full charge in 43 minutes. Tom’s Guide measured 77% at 30 minutes. The two outlets disagree, so I report both.

What reviewers agree on

Strengths:

• The Privacy Display is new and genuinely useful
• Better low-light photos from the f/1.4 main camera
• Faster 60W charging
• Top-tier performance
• Thinner and lighter than before

Weaknesses:

• Expensive, especially at 1TB
• No Qi2 magnets
• Battery life trails the iPhone 17 Pro Max and rivals with silicon-carbon batteries
• The S Pen is unchanged
• The camera bump makes it rock on a flat surface (Tom’s Guide)

Who should buy it

If you use your phone for everything, from work email to photography to note-taking with the S Pen, this is, in my view, one of the most complete Android phones on sale right now. The Privacy Display adds a reason to buy that no spec sheet comparison captures.

If you have an S25 Ultra, the case for upgrading is weaker. You gain faster charging, the privacy screen and a brighter main lens, but battery life only improves modestly in Tom’s Guide’s test, and the S Pen stays the same.

For readers in the Arab world, the good news is official availability: Samsung Gulf sells the S26 Ultra in all three storage options through its UAE store. I could not read an official AED price on Samsung’s page, so check the store directly before comparing offers from retailers.

Verdict

The Galaxy S26 Ultra does not reinvent Samsung’s formula, and it does not need to. Engadget’s and Tom’s Guide’s results show top-tier speed, fast charging and solid battery life, and the Privacy Display gives it an identity of its own. In my view, the missing Qi2 magnets and the high price are the real compromises, not the hardware.

My rating is 8.8/10, in line with Engadget’s 90/100 and Tom’s Guide’s Editor’s Choice award.

Sources

• Samsung Global Newsroom, “Samsung Galaxy S26 series and Galaxy Buds4 series now available worldwide”, March 11, 2026, https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-galaxy-s26-series-and-galaxy-buds4-series-now-available-worldwide
• SamMobile, Galaxy S26 Ultra US pricing, February 25, 2026, https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-price/
• GSMArena, Galaxy S26 Ultra specifications (undated spec page), https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s26_ultra_5g-14320.php
• GSMArena, Galaxy S26 Ultra review, battery and display, March 6, 2026, https://m.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s26_ultra-review-2939p3.php
• Engadget, Sam Rutherford, “Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: the stealth upgrade”, March 5, 2026, https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-review-the-stealth-upgrade-140000629.html
• Tom’s Guide, Mark Spoonauer, Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review, March 6, 2026, https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/samsung-phones/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-review
• Tom’s Guide, Mark Spoonauer, Galaxy S26 Ultra battery life tested against the iPhone 17 Pro Max, March 3, 2026, https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/samsung-phones/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-battery-life-tested-heres-how-it-stacks-up-to-iphone-17-pro-max-and-more
• Samsung UAE, Galaxy S26 Ultra buy page (undated), https://www.samsung.com/ae/smartphones/galaxy-s26-ultra/buy/