Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: Upgrade your phone, upgrade your life

An AI that actually helps you?

By now, enough people have experienced AI fatigue; it makes Samsung’s grand marketing plan of calling the Galaxy S26 Ultra an “AI Phone” all the more confusing. If it were up to us, we wouldn’t try to sell a phone by reminding users of the tool that threatens their rice bowl and causing lopsided expectations at work. Surely, it’s a mistake, right?

On the contrary, Samsung thinks the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s trinity of Galaxy AI, Google Gemini, and Perplexity comes together to accomplish “AI for everyday life”, making the phone more enjoyable to use. Not by exploitation, but by the reduction of daily drudgery.

This is on top of expected hardware upgrades (like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy) and unexpected ones (Privacy Display, 60W wired charging, and more).

Are a handful of new parts and software wizardry enough to justify its S$1,828 starting price? Here are our thoughts, in full.

Samsung’s most advanced Galaxy S display, yet

If you’ve been following various content creators and tech publications on social media, you’d know that arguably the most important new feature on the Galaxy S26 Ultra lies within its display.

While it’s still a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel with a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, Samsung has added Privacy Display. To put it briefly, it’s a feature that limits viewing angles to mitigate shoulder surfing. 

You can toggle it on/off, customise it to trigger on specific apps or credentials (passwords, PINs, etc.), and choose between “regular” and “maximum” privacy protection (more on that in a bit).

We know it’s hardware-based technology because of Samsung’s Privacy Display explainer. When the feature is enabled, it dims the pixels responsible for amazing viewing angles (the brand calls them “wide pixels”). The only pixels left activated are the forward-facing ones with narrower viewing angles. 

Hence, the “normal” and “maximum” privacy levels you choose are derived from the dimming intensity of those wide pixels. To a kaypoh bystander, “maximum” looks as if the Galaxy S26 Ultra user is smiling or laughing at a blank, greyish screen.

For users who don’t see why Privacy Display is a smarter solution than similar screen protectors, we’d like to offer that it’s quite a tidy feature if you’re nitpicky. For instance, we loved the selective dimming of notification pop-ups and certain apps. It was helpful when watching videos during a commute, and it doesn’t sacrifice the display’s clarity too much. It’s made sweeter by how the commuter next to us doesn’t get to see our messages, inbox, or pop-ups.

For users who are concerned about who is watching their screens, Privacy Display is easily one of the biggest and most important new features to appear in a phone. It could even be enough to persuade some users to upgrade to the S26 Ultra – it’s that good.

Making the Privacy Display a feature exclusive to the Ultra is fine for now, but given all the talk about how user privacy is important for its customers, it would be fantastic if Samsung extends this feature to its Base and Plus models in the future.

A more useful Galaxy AI

We’ve already covered new Galaxy AI updates in great detail here. There’s a lot to go through if you want to get into the nitty-gritty about what’s added or improved. Here, we look at its viability and mileage.

You may have noticed that Samsung has moved past showing off AI as a new technology and is focusing on making more helpful products with a minimal learning curve. Some Galaxy AI examples are reinventions of the wheel, but they are highly effective, as seen in some examples we’ve fleshed out below.

Call Screening is a more advanced version of voicemail from the 90s. It’s one of our favourite Galaxy AI features because of many reasons: if you’re old enough to remember (or if you pay attention to your telco plans), voicemail is usually a paid subscription, and you still have to sit through the recording to grasp key information.

Call Screening eschews all of that by combining several AI-powered functions into one convenient experience: you get AI-transcribed copy on your display so you can tell if it’s a robocall or scam call, and it even turns the tables back on them by putting the Galaxy AI assistant in charge of sussing out the details. All of this is available via Galaxy AI without paying for another subscription. That said, it would be remiss of us not to mention that Apple introduced a similar feature in iOS 26.

If you’re multilingual (or expect important calls to come in multiple languages), be sure to download multiple language packs for Call Screening (under Settings > Galaxy AI > Call Assist > Call Screening).

Of course, not every Samsung AI-powered feature is a one-hit wonder. We found it odd that Document Scan was smart enough to remove creases and fingers, but somehow didn’t automatically correct the tilt and orientation of documents.

While we can argue all day about the ethical concerns of features such as Generative Edit and Photo Assist, there’s no question that they can be immensely useful if used in a right-minded and principled way. Plus, it must be said that even if Samsung did not offer these features in an integrated manner, users could have easily resorted to third-party apps. In that sense, one could perhaps applaud Samsung for sparing users the trouble of having to scour the app store for third-party solutions, which could have even more lackadaisical approaches to privacy and even more lax guardrails on what kinds of edits users can do to photos.

It’s these little things that make the difference in a smooth user experience with reduced cognitive burden. From another perspective, it’s quite remarkable to see how far Samsung has come from being a brand once famous for bloatware to now offering add-ons that people actually want and use.

As such, Galaxy AI is making significant strides in refining and adding AI features that make sense, and we hope this continues to the benefit of Galaxy mobile users. 

We didn’t forget the S Pen

Functionally, the S Pen on Galaxy S26 Ultra remained the same as last year’s. We’re glad that Samsung didn’t nerf the stylus any further, but it’s a real shame our favourite feature (using the S Pen as a remote shutter for the camera) isn’t back either.

The S Pen changes made were mostly physical. Besides improving how the stylus smells right out of its holster, the clicker also follows the phone’s shape, making it asymmetrical. We actually found it really disruptive when putting away the S Pen now, given that previous S Pens didn’t insist on a “correct” way to reinsert them.

Camera performance 

While the ultrawide and 3x optical zoom telephoto remained unchanged from the previous Ultra, the 200MP main and 50MP 5x optical zoom telephoto both got faster lenses that let the sensor capture more light:

• Main camera went to f/1.4, wider than its previous f/1.7
• 5x telephoto camera is now f/2.9, wider than its past f/3.4

We’ve captured the essence of Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera performance in this detailed hands-on experience, so the findings, such as handling of contrast, noise, and colourisation, are discussed there. The photos we shared really speak for themselves.

As a whole, the point-and-shoot experience is noticeably better in low-light or dark conditions because of the faster lenses. It affects the automatic shutter speed. Where quick, clear, and sharp photos are important, you’re less likely to get it wrong on the first try. 

Pretty pictures aside, the S26 Ultra also serves up impressive video stabilisation with a new feature called Horizon Lock. This feature is disabled by default, but once you activate it, you will be astounded by just how well it stabilises your footage. Even turning your phone upside down doesn’t seem to have much of an impact on your recording. Clearly, there’s a lot of processing at work, and the end result is undeniably impressive.

Benchmark performance

The processor platform on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. It’s extremely similar to the standard version launched in late 2025, except that those made for Galaxy S26 Ultra phones have slightly higher clock rates. From our monitoring apps, the prime cores are 0.12GHz faster, while the other six efficiency cores are 0.01GHz faster.

Since this processor was designed for 2026 premium flagship Android phones (and beyond), not many phones would have it this early in the year. Rival brands carrying the vanilla flavour of this chip include the Honor Magic8 Pro and Xiaomi 17 Ultra. While OPPO Find X9 Pro does have a 2026 flagship-grade processor (Dimensity 9500), that’s from Qualcomm’s rival, MediaTek.

It’s interesting that the Galaxy S26 Ultra dissipates heat in an unconventional manner. Instead of the back of the phone getting hot, the heat comes from the sides, just above your physical buttons. Performance-wise, the numbers clearly show that it’s a beast that supports the phone’s premium positioning.

Battery life

Our battery benchmark uses PCMark for Android’s Work 3.0 Battery Life, with results shown in minutes. This controlled benchmark simulates real-world usage, such as web and social media browsing, video and photo editing, parsing data with various file formats, writing, and more. The test starts at 100% and ends with 20% left on the device.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is back with a 5,000mAh battery, and it lasted just over 17 hours. This is over 100 minutes longer-lasting than its predecessor, which is a significant improvement.

However, the development of silicone-carbon batteries in the Honor Magic8 Pro and Xiaomi 17 Ultra are starting to see progress, which explains why the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 5,000mAh is falling behind the 6,800~7,100mAh Chinese handsets. That said, having a 36~42% smaller mAh capacity didn’t stop the Galaxy S26 Ultra from getting 17 hours on the same benchmark, so it’s still efficient even if it’s not new.

Perhaps it’s time for Samsung to start exploring silicone-carbon battery technology as well.

The sleeper upgrade, however, is Galaxy S26 Ultra’s wired charging. Samsung has finally given it 60W charging (up from the old 45W). Under the right conditions, such as a low state of charge and a compatible third-party charger, it could draw over 50W and regain as much as 10% charge in as little as 3 minutes. It didn’t take more than 20 minutes to reach the first 50%, and it took a little under one hour to reach full charge. We feel this is Samsung’s fastest-charging Ultra phone to date, and the time saved on waiting is a true perk.

It would have been a nice touch if the brand had included its own charging adapter (worth S$68) to showcase how quickly the Galaxy S26 Ultra can be refuelled. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of compatible third-party chargers out there.

Additionally, it can now charge wirelessly at a faster rate of up to 25W (up from 15W). This new wireless charging speed implies it supports Qi 2.2, since the older Qi wireless technologies can only pull a little over 15W at their peak. Our gripe is that there’s no charging puck or magnet built into the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which means you’ll need a compatible phone case to use its new wireless charging speeds.

For users who want that convenience, we’ve also put together a collection of wireless charging accessories here for your consideration.

Conclusion

Like all technologies and tools that came before it, generative AI’s promises and expectations are still largely shaped by human limitations and greed. It falls upon us to decide whether AI is for milking the last possible ounce of profit, or for improving our quality of life. What we didn’t expect was Samsung being the one to show us that the latter is possible, and especially not through its latest premium flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

On the surface, it looks like Samsung played it safe with the Galaxy S26 Ultra by making it difficult to distinguish from its predecessor. Its hardware doesn’t seem that much different. That is, until you actively use the phone and realise you could never go back – even if its predecessor was the gold standard in premium Android handsets. 

As befits a flagship-class phone, it’s a given that performance and battery life should be improved, and this phone achieves that in some ways, even if the gains are incremental. What’s arguably more important is that Samsung chose to make its mark by going beyond the confines of a phone. We note the combined effort of third-party AI collaboration, Galaxy AI, and a selective approach to upgrading tools has worked well, because the current crop of Galaxy AI features is consistent in trying to help free your time up for more important stuff.

Even its non-AI upgrades (Privacy Display and 60W charging) follow the same train of thought. Why trouble yourself to go hunt down another privacy screen protector when you can just turn the feature on? And why should charging your phone take longer than the time it takes you to have a shower?

They are not just shortcuts or conveniences for their own sake. Perhaps more importantly, Samsung’s approach is refreshing, especially in light of the current crop of “AI-enabled phones” that often feel incomplete or patronising.

If anything, it’s unfortunate that Samsung marketed this phone as an “AI Phone”, given the mixed opinions about what AI can do and has done to people, and its somewhat negative connotations. In giving us the Galaxy S26 Ultra, its software and hardware teams deserve massive kudos for actually trying to upgrade users’ lives instead of flexing on them.

There’s plenty to pick on if you’re out for Samsung’s blood, too. The Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at S$1,828 (256GB), which is really pricey even by premium standards. For that amount of money, you’d think Samsung would at least include a charging adapter, or implement wireless charging without needing a separate phone case. S Pen, an iconic USP of Samsung’s best phone, has had no meaningful updates since losing its Bluetooth or battery capabilities last year. Despite these grievances, the rest of the phone stays and works exceptionally well, and exceeds typical Android phone experiences.

The age of AI has upended traditional drivers of society, so much so that bigger or newer isn’t necessarily better any more. With AI becoming increasingly inescapable, the way people balance authenticity with outcomes has shifted, creating both uncertainty and renewed expectations. 

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is probably the first AI-enabled smartphone that didn’t make us roll our eyes, even if its “AI Phone” mantra initially did. The overall upgrades and package offer mileage far beyond what an extra nit of brightness or a drop of milliampere can pull off. That says a lot about the authenticity and quality-of-life improvements it has delivered.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is available in Cobalt Violet, Black, Sky Blue, and White, while its online-exclusive colours on Samsung Online Store and Samsung Shop app are Pink Gold and Silver Shadow. Prices are as follows:

• 12GB + 256GB – S$1,828
• 12GB + 512GB – S$2,128
• 16GB + 1TB – S$2,578

If you’re looking to buy one, click here.