Galaxy S26 Ultra destined to flop unless Samsung gives us full control over this rumored new feature

I hope that Samsung is not preparing a nasty surprise for us come January 2026 with the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Given that the Galaxy S25 Ultra was not a substantial upgrade over the cool-and-then-some Galaxy S24 Ultra, I expect big things out of the S26 Ultra – and I think everyone else does, too. It's not that the S25 Ultra is a bad phone, but I'd honestly recommend getting the Galaxy S24 Ultra on a juicy discount (if you're in a hurry for a Galaxy flagship right now) or just waiting for the S26 Ultra.

Back to my Galaxy S26 Ultra mini-rant. It all started with this intriguing piece I stumbled upon the other day:

• The Galaxy S26 Ultra is getting a massive screen upgrade, but not in the way you might think

The feature discussed here is called Flex Magic Pixel, developed by Samsung Display. It almost sounds like another foldable trickery, but it's not.



According to reports, Samsung is bringing its Flex Magic Pixel technology to mass production. That's a new OLED display innovation that uses AI to limit viewing angles when sensitive apps are open. Unlike traditional privacy screen protectors that dim or wash out displays, this approach promises to maintain full brightness and quality while still shielding your content from prying eyes.

Maybe you've seen phones with such screen protectors, maybe you haven't: but it's getting more popular by the day.


If the leaks are accurate, the S26 Ultra will be the first Samsung phone to ship with this display tech, potentially giving it a practical advantage over rivals.

And it does sound like a practical feature: no more turning around when opening your bank account in public. Or when looking at those funny pictures of you on the beach last year. In fact, even if you don't have sensitive stuff on your phone, it's good to keep pictures and videos to yourself.

Unless you actually want to show something to somebody. Or a group of friends.

So far, so good: but here's one possible issue

If this tech is installed on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, I guess it won't be active 100% of the time: maybe there'll be an on/off switch button somewhere in the settings menu. I hope so.

In fact, I hope there'll be at least three options to choose from:

• Turn Flex Magic Pixel on for all apps
• Turn Flex Magic Pixel on for specific apps
• Turn Flex Magic Pixel off

There it is: there should be a sub-menu in the Flex Magic Pixel setting that lets us pick the apps that trigger this otherwise clever privacy feature.

Keeping Flex Magic Pixel on for all apps would be great for the more paranoid among us, but that's going to be a major pain in the rear for lots of people. See, I want to use Flex Magic Pixel only for my banking and sensitive stuff. I don't want to have to dig through menus and settings to turn Flex Magic Pixel off every time I want to show a cool photo to a group of friends because they can't see jack when standing next to me.

That's how Flex Magic Pixel and physical screen protectors work – they affect viewing angles. By design, they narrow the angle at which the screen is clearly visible, which helps prevent people sitting next to you from peeking. The drawback is that it also limits your own experience. You may need to hold the phone more directly in front of your eyes, since tilting it even slightly can make the screen look dimmer or harder to read.

All in all, the Flex Magic Pixel feature sounds fun: I guess there'll be many breakups, or at least quarrels: try to convince your significant other that you've been checking your bank account for the last 20 minutes, chatting with the AI bot about balance and new offers.

Joking aside, I hope the Flex Magic Pixel arrives on the Galaxy S26 Ultra – with options to customize! – because that'll certainly be a leap in display technology. Rivals should take notes!