Wait, did the Galaxy S26 Ultra just lose TWO of its only real upgrades over the S25 Ultra?

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is what many tech-savvy Android fans are waiting for at the moment: true, the just-unveiled Galaxy Z TriFold is super fancy and all, but only a handful of you need a 10-inch trifoldable (or are willing to pay for it).

There are a ton of exotic Android phones out there that aren't made by Samsung, but it's Samsung's yearly Galaxy S Ultra model that many choose to spend their hard-earned money on. Whether it's because there are many Samsung fans out there, or people just stick with the most popular Android brand in the world, it doesn't really matter to the headquarters in Korea. Hey, as long as people keep on buying the new Ultra, everything's fine!

But how long until even hardcore Samsung fans turn on their favorite brand? The thing is, the Galaxy S26 Ultra might've just lost two of its only real upgrades over its predecessor, the fan-favorite Galaxy S25 Ultra.

What is a flagship?

Among other things, it's the premium feel attached to it: you can recognize a flagship even with your eyes closed. When you hold it in your hands, you can feel the premium build. If you look at it, things just get better: a flagship's design is sleek and elegant, even if it's not to your taste.

Then, you fire it up and everything happens in a blink of an eye: apps don't stutter or crash, games don't lag, the display is glorious and bright. The cameras are out of this world and speakers are vastly superior to those of cheaper phones.

In a word: you're getting what you've paid for.

However, it's a bit awkward that mid-rangers are starting to get essentially what are two – and even three – day batteries. For example, Honor's rumored Power 2 phone could arrive with 10,000 mAh of capacity on board.

That's precisely two times the Galaxy S25 Ultra's 5,000 mAh capacity. Of course, Samsung's flagship would unapologetically wipe the floor with Honor's mid-ranger in terms of performance and performance… but the bad taste in the mouth remains.

I'm not advocating for 10,000 mAh batteries in flagships – that would make them too bulky for too many people – but I do think that it's a serious blind spot for flagships today.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra: still at 5,000 mAh?

That being said, the Galaxy S26 Ultra was finally to break away from the 5,000 mAh capacity cells of its predecessors:

• Galaxy S20 Ultra
• Galaxy S21 Ultra
• Galaxy S22 Ultra
• Galaxy S23 Ultra
• Galaxy S24 Ultra
• Galaxy S25 Ultra

Yes, that's six years of 5,000 mAh cells and the S26 Ultra was rumored to top them with its modest 5,200 mAh, a leak claimed some weeks ago.

The extra 200 mAh of capacity wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway, but paired with a more efficient chipset and new display tech, it could pass as a real upgrade and the real-life battery could be boosted.

Now, a cold rain comes down on our parade in the form of a pretty extensive comparison list between the S26 Ultra and the S25 Ultra, courtesy of the well-known and highly reputable Ice Universe tipster on X.

In it, it's clearly stated that the new flagship would once again, the seventh year in a row, come with a 5,000 mAh battery. However, it's going to get 60W of wired charging speeds over its predecessor's 45W. It's something.

The 5,000 mAh claim was brought up again by Ice Universe just yesterday:



Given this tipster's reputation, I'm willing to bet my money on the 5,000 mAh rumor, not the 5,200 mAh.

What about the rest of it?

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is to get the latest and greatest in terms of chipset: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. That's a clear advantage over the previous Snapdragon 8 Elite, but only if you care the most about maximum raw power. In reality, the Snapdragon 8 Elite (and the even older Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, for that matter) are extremely capable and snappy, too.

Next: we're to get the same amount of RAM (up to 16 GB), although Samsung could use LPDDR5X memory (low-power double data rate 5X), which means it could achieve greater speeds and make the phone feel even snappier. I must ruin your optimism at this very moment, though: RAM is stupid expensive these days, and Samsung could slam some price hikes on the Galaxy S26 family in 2026.

Moving on to the design. Allegedly, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is to be 0.3 mm thinner and 4 grams lighter than the Galaxy S25 Ultra. On paper, it's an achievement… but in real life usage scenarios? How often would you praise Samsung for making your phone less than half a millimeter thinner? How much easier to lift would the S26 Ultra be with its 214 g of total (rumored) weight?

The cameras are reportedly also skipping a meaningful upgrade. Samsung is expected to retain the same ISOCELL HP2 sensor for the main camera and the rest of the cameras could inherit their megapixel count from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Funny enough, the 3x telephoto might get a physically smaller sensor, but I suppose we'll have to live with it.

Then, there's the display. I'll need a whole separate section about it.

Don't get too high on the new M14 OLED material

Speaking of things that'll stay the same, users can expect the 6.9-inch display to arrive once again with 2,600 nits of brightness and the 1–120Hz refresh rate.

However, the Galaxy S26 Ultra might utilize the M14 OLED material – we've written extensively about it in the past, and everybody's pretty hyped about it. Everybody, except for Ice Universe:



According to this information, the M14 luminous material in the Galaxy S26 Ultra may offer little real improvement in display performance compared with other devices using the same panel, such as the Chinese iQOO 15.

The leakster claims that while the iQOO 15 pushes the M14 panel to its full potential – achieving higher peak brightness, wider color gamut, and high-frequency dimming – Samsung appears to prioritize power efficiency over visual performance on the S26 Ultra.

To preserve battery life with its 5,000mAh cell, the device reportedly limits the display to 8-bit color depth, caps brightness at 2600 nits, and uses low-frequency PWM, restricting the panel's capabilities. As a result, the M14 panel on the Galaxy S26 Ultra may function more as a power-saving tool than as a means to deliver top-tier display performance.

A slightly tweaked S25 Ultra?

If the leaks hold up, the Galaxy S26 Ultra might be in trouble with fans looking for real reasons to upgrade. After years of incremental changes, losing meaningful improvements in both battery and display – everybody cares about those – makes the S26 Ultra feel less like a true flagship and more like a slightly tweaked S25 Ultra.

Still, that rumored privacy feature of the display sounds so cool.

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