The Galaxy S26 Ultra is official and it can do what none other phone can

Here it is in action:

There are two modes to choose from:

• Standard privacy
• Maximum privacy

The latter option may slightly degrade image quality and contrast, but that's not an issue if you want to keep your stuff to yourself.

The rest of it is pretty standard in terms of a flagship display. The panel offers a high QHD+ resolution, which translates to 3120 x 1440 pixels and 500 pixels per inch density. The refresh rate goes from 1–120Hz. That's pretty standard, too.

The OnePlus 15 goes higher than that and offers up to a 165Hz refresh rate. That's primarily aimed at gamers, so you'll be perfectly fine with the Samsung's 120Hz if competitive gaming is not critically important to you.

Fans of the S Pen will be happy to know that the stylus is here once again.

Design: mostly the same, but slimmer

The Galaxy S26 Ultra inherits the design language of its predecessor – so, for a second year in a row, we've got a Samsung flagship that comes with round corners. The boxy, rectangular and aggressive edges of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and older models are gone for the moment.

In terms of thickness, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is 7.9 mm, which will be considered impressive by many. Here's how the Ultra has been slimming down throughout the years:

• Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra – 7.9 mm
• Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – 8.2 mm
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – 8.6 mm

That's almost a whole millimeter of difference in just two years. Personally, I don't mind slightly thicker phones, but slim flagships feel amazing in hand.

In terms of weight, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is 214 g, which is less than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which is 233 g. The difference is not that big, but if you happen to experience wrist fatigue or pain, it's always better to stick to the lighter handset.

Colors

There are a total of six Galaxy S26 Ultra colors. There are four basic options to choose from and two online-exclusive hues.

Here are the four standard colors:

• Cobalt Violet
• Sky Blue
• Black
• White

And here are the online-exclusive options:

• Silver Shadow
• Pink Gold

While there are no radical or bold colors this time around, Samsung's decision to include a black option is a smart move. Many people like their electronics to be as subtle and elegant as possible and the black color is perfect for that. Apple's iPhone 17 Pro Max doesn't have a black paint job but a striking orange hue, which quickly became a hit worldwide.

Brightest camera ever (by Samsung)

The Galaxy S26 Ultra will be the go-to camera smartphone for millions of users around the world. There aren't any groundbreaking hardware upgrades, just a few enhancements here and there, plus, a ton of AI tools.

Here's the camera setup in a nutshell:


The main camera once again utilizes a 200MP sensor, but now, we have a much larger aperture of f/1.4, which should let almost 50% more light in than the S25 Ultra. The previous Ultra phone debuted with an aperture of f/1.7.

Going from f/1.7 to f/1.4 means the lens opens wider and lets in more light. It's a small boost, about a third of a stop. A "stop" in photography terms is a way to measure how much light your lens lets in. Moving one stop brighter doubles the light, and one stop darker halves it.

So, the Galaxy S26 Ultra should excel in low-light situations. You'll be able to shoot in darker places without raising your ISO, so your images will be cleaner.

The dual-telephoto setup is back once again: one is 3x optical zoom and the other is 5x. This is a great combination. The 3x snapper, however, utilizes a 10 MP sensor, which is kind of disappointing in 2026, when 50 MP is more or less the standard. The 5x camera (which has a 50 MP sensor) is fine-tuned to capture more vivid detail while delivering richer colors.

The ultra-wide camera packs a 50 MP sensor and, finally, the selfie is a 12 MP one. The pictures from the front camera should look more natural than before with improved AI processing for hair textures and skin tones.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has something in store for the videographers, too. The new phone makes video and selfies smoother and more detailed. Its Super Steady Film uses real-time gyro and accelerometer data to keep horizons perfectly level, delivering ultra-stable footage.

The Frame feature lets you capture dynamic 4K videos with autoframe, keeping important moments sharp thanks to AI processing from the 8K sensor-based real-time AI processing.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is also the first Galaxy to support the new Advanced Professional Video format, allowing professional-quality 8K recording at 30fps.

More camera enhancements

Thanks to the Pro Scaler feature, the cameras can take photos with cleaner edges and the image processor brings out finer details.

The Multi-Domain Neural Image Engine – or simply mDNIe – improves color precision, so subtle shades and gradients, like a sunset, feel more natural and lifelike. This one sounds really interesting, as phones struggle with sunsets and sunrises more often than not.

Of course, there are numerous AI-powered camera enhancements, too.

For example, Photo Assist uses AI to clean up or even add objects in your shots, adjusting lighting and colors so everything looks natural. The photo editing workflow lets you jump back into edits anytime without starting over.

Creative Studio turns your ideas into stickers, wallpapers, or cards, which you can even use straight from the keyboard. Audio Eraser now works across apps like YouTube and Instagram, letting you remove unwanted sounds quickly without leaving your video.

Top-notch Snapdragon performance

The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset under the hood. No matter where you are based, that's the silicon you're getting. Meanwhile, the vanilla Galaxy S26 and the bigger Galaxy S26 Plus are offered either with the aforementioned Snapdragon chip or the in-house Exynos 2600.

For memory, you choose between 12 and 16 GB, while storage is 256, 512 GB or 1 TB. Should you want 16 GB of RAM, you'll have to get the 1 TB storage version, because that's the only model that offers it.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with a new thermal interface material. The vapor chamber is redesigned and 20% more heat is dissipated over, Samsung says. What this means is that resource-heavy tasks and demanding operations will be done easily on the Galaxy S26 Ultra without overheating.

The battery is still 5,000 mAh but now charges faster

The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with a 5,000 mAh capacity battery cell.

This is the seventh year in a row that Samsung has installed a 5,000 mAh battery cell in its Ultra flagship. Chips have been getting more energy efficient, display panels also tend to draw less power. Having said that, I think this is the weakest aspect of the Galaxy S26 Ultra: 5,000 mAh in 2026 is inexcusable for a flagship that costs $1,300. Simple as that.

The good news is that there's faster charging (both wired and wireless). When plugged in, the Galaxy S26 Ultra can go from 0 to 75% in about 30 minutes, which is faster than the speeds offered by its predecessor.

Chinese rivals offer much higher charging speeds, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra at least takes a step in the right direction and is a notable upgrade over the Galaxy S25 Ultra in that particular regard.

Software enhancements

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is an AI phone and brings numerous artificial intelligence features on board:

• AI-Powered Screenshot analyzer
• Now Nudge
• Now Brief
• Now Bar
• Circle to Search
• Bixby

The AI-Powered Screenshot analyzer is a new feature. Once you take a screenshot, it's categorized in one of 8 categories. That's particularly handy if you don't want to go through all the image screenshots just to get to the text screenshot which you took five months ago.

What Now Nudge does is that it turns context into actions – for example, this feature suggests a free calendar slot when discussing plans with friends. The goal is to give you information or suggestions based on context.

The Now Brief, which summarizes relevant information based on your personal context, is now more deeply integrated with the personal data engine. In other words, Now Brief learns from your notifications and messages to highlight the relevant stuff for the day ahead.

The Now Bar offers better contextual shortcuts and adaptive recommendations. For example, if you have to leave soon for an appointment, Now Bar might propose booking an Uber in time.

The popular Circle to Search is once again here, which isn't a surprise. The new thing about it is that it can break down full outfits all at once. That's how you can easily find the pants or jacket you're looking for.

The Bixby assistant offers natural language control and real-time web search. Should you say something like "Bixby, the screen is hurting my eyes!", it may suggest enabling Eye Comfort Shield and give you the option to do so.

Additional privacy features

The built-in privacy display feature isn't the only privacy protection owners of the Galaxy S26 Ultra will get.

• There are these enhancements as well:
• Call Screening
• Secure Elements
• Privacy Alerts
• Private Album

Call Screening lets AI answer unknown numbers first and gives you a transcript so you can decide whether to pick up, with spam protection now available in more countries. Enhanced encryption and post-quantum security keep your device safe, while Privacy Alerts notify you if apps access sensitive permissions. You can also lock certain photos and videos in a Private Album for extra protection.

Price and availability

Pre-orders start today, and the launch date is set for March 11. That's precisely two weeks from now.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $1,299.

That's not an easy-to-swallow sum, but at least there isn't a price hike for the 12 GB of RAM + 256 GB model. In recent months, the tech industry has seen certain chips go up 50–60% (and more) in price, which is why many phones are expected to get pricier in the near future.