The Galaxy S26 Ultra will make mainstream flagships fun again

Samsung will announce the new Galaxy S26 series tomorrow, including the brand new feature that the Galaxy S26 Ultra is shipping with: a privacy display. This is a first of its kind addition to modern smartphones and the Galaxy S26 Ultra might be ahead of its time this year, just like the Galaxy S9 was all the way back in 2018.

Of course, there are all of the usual annual upgrades like a faster processor, camera upgrades for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and a slimmer chassis. But it’s the privacy display that has me wondering if Samsung is about to make mainstream flagship smartphones fun again.

Not just any display

Here’s the thing. As has been pointed out in prior reports, the privacy display is a hardware-level upgrade and it doesn’t have much to do with software. Understandably, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is not getting the privacy display via some update down the line. Such a thing is impossible to do.

The display on the S26 Ultra is able to hide its on-screen contents from anyone trying to sneak a peek so accurately that you can choose to hide only notifications instead of everything if you like. At the pixel level of the display, only certain elements of the screen will be altered to become invisible from the sides.

There are also differing levels of the privacy feature, with the maximum privacy settings basically making the screen appear completely dark even in bright environments. This is also only possible to such a refined degree because the display itself is working its magic and not relying on some software trickery.

The privacy display also complements another hardware-level upgrade this year: the wider aperture on the back. This change should theoretically let the Galaxy S26 Ultra take sharper and more detailed pictures in challenging lighting conditions.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is a fun phone

For years, the only upgrades we have been looking forward to each year from Samsung, Google, and Apple have been better chips and slimmer forms. Sometimes we would get something a little more exciting, like Samsung’s anti-reflective displays and Apple’s new selfie cameras on the iPhone 17, but not much more.

Gone were the days when smartphone makers would make drastic changes, unless you’re one of the very few American consumers who are okay with buying Chinese phones. Silicon-carbon batteries have escaped Samsung and Apple, and the rear display on the Xiaomi 17 Pro is unlikely to make it to Galaxy and iPhone flagships.

Reserve your Galaxy S26 at the official store

Samsung has launched its much-awaited Galaxy S26 reservations. Pre-securing a unit straight away gives you a $30 Samsung credit, a chance to win a $5,000 sweepstake, and pre-order savings of up to $900.

Reserve at Samsung

This monotony was disturbed a little when Samsung and Apple began marketing AI more heavily than marginal camera improvements, but we’ve all seen how AI has been received. I missed when the Edge phones awed your friends with their futuristic displays, or even the first time we all saw a phone without a headphone jack, no matter how much I dislike that trend.

Notches and punch holes are old school now, and so are styluses and foldable smartphones. They’re all pretty cool pieces of tech, but not something new that the lads would pass around, marveling at a new breakthrough in the smartphone industry.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is bringing that back. This privacy display isn’t some AI feature or a reduction of 0.2 mm of thickness: it’s a tangible change that everyone can see and admire. It is a first in the industry, and others are already following.

A new trend, hopefully

The best part? This isn’t the only major breakthrough that we’re expecting from smartphones this year. There is a very good chance that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 will be perfect, featuring the world’s first folding display that has no crease at all.

Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly bringing variable apertures to the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Samsung has also allegedly placed requests for such aperture units of its own, bringing the feature back to the Galaxy phones years after its discontinuation.

Is it finally time for mainstream flagship phones to become exciting again, matching, or perhaps even succeeding their Chinese counterparts? I sure hope so.

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