Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: five rumored upgrades that make it the flagship to get next year

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will continue the tradition of excellent, reliable Android flagships with very generous software support. If you’re on an older Samsung phone, or another Android device, you might have wondered if the S26 Ultra will be worth getting next year.

Short answer? Yes! Long answer? Well, here are five rumored upgrades that make the Galaxy S26 Ultrathe flagship to get next year.

It has a privacy display

Reports have been coming in for a while now about a fascinating display upgrade that Samsung has planned for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Apparently, the S26 Ultra will come with a privacy display, and it’s a lot more versatile than you might expect at first.

The phone’s screen will apparently be able to hide the contents being displayed. This won’t hide the display from the user, though: only people standing around you won’t be able to see what’s on your phone’s screen.

To make this a lot more useful, Samsung is reportedly incorporating AI into the feature. You can tell the phone to hide the display when select elements or apps are on the screen. The S26 Ultra will also be able to monitor your surroundings to automatically hide the display whenever someone passes by. That does raise some privacy concerns, however.

A wider aperture

One of the most exciting upgrades being reported for the Galaxy S26 Ultra is a wider aperture for its main camera on the rear. In simple terms, the phone will have a wider opening for its camera, allowing more light to hit the lens than was possible with the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

While it may not be the camera upgrade that some were hoping for, a wider aperture can make a world of difference. Low-light photography in particular should look much better on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The only downside here is that the wider aperture has forced the return of a rear camera island, which some people might not like the look of.

An Exynos processor? On the Ultra?

After many years, reports suggest that Samsung is finally ready to bring back its in-house Exynos processors to the Ultra models. The 2 nm Exynos 2600 looks spectacular, and will give current 3 nm Snapdragon chipsets a run for their money.

However, the Exynos models might not make it to all regions just yet. As has been Samsung’s tradition in the past, some regions might still get Snapdragon versions. And, while an Exynos phone is a dealbreaker for some, it is something to look forward to as well this time around.

If not for Samsung’s progress on its in-house chips, then for the insane performance scores that the chip is scoring. A Galaxy S26 Ultra running on the Exynos 2600 will be a force to be reckoned with.

A more comfortable design

This one is a bit more contentious, but Samsung is making the Galaxy S26 Ultra even more comfortable to hold. After ditching the sharp edges for a more rounded approach with the Galaxy S25 Ultra, the S26 Ultra will apparently feature even curvier corners. On the downside, the design does make it look a lot more like an iPhone.

The phone will also be slimmer than its predecessor, which is a major reason for the aforementioned return of a rear camera island. So, if rounder corners and slimmer form factors for smartphones is your thing, then the S26 Ultra is definitely one to look forward to next year.

A bigger battery at last! And faster charging!

Now for the big one, a battery with a capacity larger than the tried and true 5,000 mAh. Yes, according to an exciting new report that just came out a few days ago, Samsung is finally moving past the 5,000 mAh batteries that it has been using for years.

Unfortunately, the upgrade isn’t that big: we’re only going up to 5,200 mAh batteries on the S26 Ultra for now. However, it’s a major step in the right direction, even if it might have only come about due to Apple catching up with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. And, it’s not like 200 mAh won’t make any difference at all to your screen-on times.

The S26 Ultra will also feature faster charging speeds, which complements the 200 mAh upgrade very nicely. Wired charging speeds are going up from 45W to 60W, and wireless charging speeds are going up from 15W to 25W.

So, progress may be slow on this front, but any at all is welcome!