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Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a familiar look and feel but the new privacy-focused display catches your eye, literally.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the latest flagship that battles iPhones and Pixel.
Samsung Galaxy S26 series was supposed to be a game changing lineup for the company but usual business has continued this year with the same three models announced, including the flagship Ultra version. Samsung has done quite a lot for its foldable last year which made us believe the next Galaxy Ultra model will see a big overhaul.
But most of the changes can be ranked as incremental, and even then you will have people eager to know how the latest flagship stands amongst a sea of options, including the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the market this year. Priced at Rs 1,39,999 means the scrutiny and demands will be much higher but does the new Samsung Ultra deliver on all fronts?
Subtle Design Tweaks
Samsung has been making subtle changes to the design of the Galaxy S Ultra models and the S26 series is part of that continuation. You get hints of the Fold 7 design elements, especially with the vertical camera module and even the less boxy nature of the body which gives it a better in-hand feel and comfortable grip compared to the previous versions.
It is marginally thinner and lighter that you immediately notice and somewhat start to like as well. Having said that, flagships merit overhauls and Samsung has been dabbling in the same design for a while and we expected an almost Fold 7-like approach with the Galaxy S26 Ultra but it seems the wait goes longer.
The S Pen still sits on the bottom left which you can take out by tapping on it. The colours have surely gotten brighter these days and the blue shade on the Galaxy S26 Ultra is worth its looks.
The New Display Focus
Samsung has taken an intriguing turn with the display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and it is focused towards the privacy of users. This is a new layer that seems to have been built into the device (both on software and hardware level) which you can simply enable from the device settings. The privacy display helps you block people around you to stop seeing the screen and its content.
This you can also use to hide any OTP messages or confidential chat you have with someone. The feature can be enabled for select apps or all of them. However, we did notice the grey-ish tone of the display panel affecting colour reproduction which has always been Samsung’s strong suit for years. Is it a deal breaker, not really and it seems many might accept it offers as a whole.
The panel itself is not a problem and despite many reports about the display hurting the eyes we didn’t face any of those issues.
The Snapdragon Elite Pull
Samsung has used Exynos for the S26 and S26+ models but no such change for the Ultra which is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC available this year. High-grade hardware usually translates into reliable, powered performance and getting it with 12GB or 16GB RAM and up to 1TB storage.
Power users get their monies, the regular users get more than enough left in the tank and you also have to factor in the AI equation with Galaxy AI suite. The benchmark scores also highlighted where the S26 Ultra ranks, especially when compared with last year’s Ultra from Samsung.
Combined with this hardware you have the new One UI 8.5 version which is also based on Android 16 so the interface isn’t very different from the 8.0 version that came out last year. The Galaxy AI features are gradually expanding but most are still on the functional side and work quite effectively.
The Camera Conundrum
When you browse through the specs sheet, the S26 Ultra borrows the same camera system from its predecessor. Having said that, the image quality does get some improvements, possibly with the help of new hardware IP and other tweaks made in the software. The main 200MP sensor delivers crisp and detailed images and even in low light we liked what we saw.
However, the game has moved far ahead with 1-inch sensors coming to prominence among other imaging tech from other brands and for a flagship people now expect more, especially if the prices are also going to go up every year.
There is nothing wrong with what Samsung offers with the Galaxy S26 Ultra and it is good in many ways as well as versatile, but it is time we see the brand come out of its comfort zone and get aggressive in this department.
More Of The Same
The other aspect of continuation for Samsung with the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the 5,000mAh battery packed inside but the main change is the support for 60W wired fast charging this year which sounds better than the 45W speeds we’ve had before. Samsung is still not offering a silicon carbon grade battery for its premium devices and we are not sure when it might happen.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra does hold up well for most tasks and you can easily get it running with around 7 to 8 hours of screen-on-time which will be subjective for users and their use cases. Samsung says you can get 75 percent juice with 30 minutes of charge and that pretty much checked out during our tests.
But like we said, the phone’s battery doesn’t wow us by any means and is purely a functional part of the device. And somehow still no MagSafe charging supported for a flagship model.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a robust and privacy-focused upgrade from last year’s flagship that has gone up the price ladder but most of the hardware has been retained and the company is slowly living with the virtues of keeping the device stable and giving it other useful tweaks like better rounded software and AI tools.
Delhi, India, India
March 16, 2026, 11:21 IST
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