This hot new Galaxy S26 Ultra feature is being copied by other smartphone manufacturers
Innovative smartphone manufacturers are copying Samsung, hoping to protect device owners.
Hot new Galaxy S26 Ultra feature is being copied | Image by PhoneArena
Arguably the best new feature available on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, one that Samsung promoted around the time it unveiled the phone earlier this year, is the Privacy Display. This is a technology that makes the phone's display only readable if viewed head-on. Anyone taking a gander at the display from an angle is unable to read it.
Samsung had a good reason for developing the Galaxy S26's Privacy Display
You might wonder what the point of this is, and I assure you that there is a very good reason behind this. By blocking anyone looking at the display from an angle, it prevents someone from spying on your screen in order to steal personal information such as log-in credentials, two-factor authentication codes (or any other types of verification codes).
It also stops someone from reading any emails or notes that you are composing.
Because the screen can be viewable to those looking directly straight at it, the device owner is able to read the screen without any issues. To be clear, there are two different settings for the Privacy Display.
The Standard Privacy Mode prevents those sitting next to you from reading what is on your display. The person looking at your phone will see a heavily dimmed screen making it hard for someone spying on the device to read the screen.
That's how "Smart privacy display" options will look on supported #Xiaomi device (likely upcoming flagship).
— Kacper Skrzypek (@kacskrz) August 28, 2026
Video recorded on Global ROM. "Page privacy display" and Xiaomi Hyper XiaoAi groups are, at least for now, available only on China ROM. pic.twitter.com/AigocVrasZ
With Maximum Privacy Protection, there is absolutely no light outside a direct line of sight. A person viewing the display from the side sees only black or grayed out areas preventing anyone from reading incoming texts regardless of room lighting. Since the maximum protection setting affects image quality and contrast, you'll want to restrict the use of this setting to situations when you are on a bus or subway, or when sitting in a theater or at a ballpark where someone can easily get more than a glance at your phone's display.
Other brands are copying Samsung's feature
Perhaps not surprising, another smartphone brand will be copying the Privacy Display. According to a tweet from X subscriber @kacskrz, Xiaomi will be offering the "Smart privacy display" on supported future devices. Not only will this feature reduce visibility from side angles, it will also alert you when the phone detects that another person is trying to catch a glimpse of the screen.
Such a feature makes so much sense and considering the edge in innovation seen with the Chinese smartphone brands, it is no surprise to see Xiaomi working on this. There is also speculation that Vivo, Oppo and Honor are working on a similar feature.
Will we see the iPhone's "Magic Screen Shield?"
We could imagine a situation where Apple is able to improve on the Privacy Display and gives its implementation a typically Apple type name. How about the "Magic Screen Shield?" Or will Google introduce a similar feature for Pixel displays first? Of course, there is no guarantee that either Apple or Google brings a version of Samsung's Privacy Display to the US.
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This is why you need a Privacy Display
Back in 2023, we told you about a guy named Aaron Johnson who would hang out at bars in Minneapolis where he would steal passcodes from intoxicated patrons by staring at their phone displays. In the space of 10 seconds after stealing your passcode, Johnson would replace your image with his for Face ID, lock you out of your own phone, and gain access to your financial apps.
Before 5 am the next morning, Johnson would have used the victim's credit cards to fund a shopping spree, and would have already started the process of wiping out their financial accounts. If more phone manufacturers add a Privacy Display feature to their handsets, we could see the end of bystanders spying on nearby phones, seeking to steal passcodes and draining the bank accounts of smartphone users.
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