Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus vs Galaxy S26 Ultra: Main differences

In terms of colors, both phones are available in Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, and White, while Silver Shadow and Pink Gold will be available exclusively online. 

The Galaxy S26 Plus arrives with the same 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen as its predecessor, with up to 120 Hz refresh rate functionality, HDR support, and a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 Ultra carries a 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR, and peak brightness of 2,600 nits, too. 

The signature new display feature of the Galaxy S26 series is the Privacy screen feature. A clever combination between AI-assisted software and Samsung's new Flex Magic OLED panel, this one automatically blurs and conceals sensitive data on your screen and protects it from prying eyes. The Galaxy S26 Plus doesn't have the Privacy screen features. 

Both the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Galaxy S26 Plus arrive with Gorilla Glass Armor, which should give you excellent scratch and drop resistance, though I do hope you never have to learn just how strong this resistance goes.  

Both phones feature under-display fingerprint scanners, which should be as fast and as accurate as they come. 

Samsung is once again about to indulge in some market segregation when it comes to what chips power its Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra lineup… and this time it might be for good.

In the USA, Canada, and China, the Galaxy S26 Plus will rely on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the best high-profile 3 nm chipset available to most Android makers out there. In all other markets around the globe, the mid-sized Samsung flagship relies on the company's in-house Exynos 2600 chipset, which is built on a 2 nm manufacturing process. 

None of this will apply to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, though. The top flagships will rely on Qualcomm power all around the world, so no Exynos power on the proper flagship. The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with a new thermal interface material and a redesigned vapor chamber that's some 20% better at dissipating heat away from the chip. This enables the device to sustain its peak performance for longer before throttling.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Galaxy S26 Plus come with 12 GB of RAM in their 256 GB and 512 GB versions. Only the Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available with 16 GB of RAM in its 1 TB version, which the Galaxy S26 Plus wouldn't support. 

One UI 8.5 is the software of choice on the Galaxy S26 series, and besides seven years of software support, this one comes with many key new features, including important visual changes.

First, the software scores a new floating app bar at the bottom, which should improve the readability. Next up, One UI 8.5 now offers even more customization options and lets you personalize the Quick Settings panel even more by reordering and removing existing controls.

If you set a picture of a person or a pet as your lock screen wallpaper, the layout will automatically move around so that neither the clock nor the widgets obscure key parts of the image. There are a few extra customization options for the lock screen clock, too.

Galaxy AI has been upgraded with continuous image generation, which lets you generate several images without stopping and pick from the ones you want afterward.

Call Screening is another new feature that will let Galaxy AI answer calls for you and see who's calling and for what reason. You will be provided with a transcript and only then decide if you want to answer the call.

Bixby can now understand you better when you talk to the assistant in your own words. This lets you use it to find specific settings or features without having to sift through numerous menus. It now has an easy way of accessing your conversation history with Bixby.

The Galaxy S26 now comes with an AI-powered screenshot analyzer, which will automatically sort your screenshots into one of eight categories. You can then find these screenshots by simply searching for said category.

The Weather app has scored a more detailed new widget that will showcase a graph of any upcoming precipitation that is expected. Your daily alarms can also show the current weather as a background when they ring, which is a neat quality-of-life upgrade.

Samsung has also enhanced the battery info menu, making it easier to check the remaining battery life left, the battery usage, as well as your charging status. There are also two power-saving modes now: Standard, which is more temperate, and Maximum, which disables all non-essential features to boost battery life.

No major changes for the cameras this year as well. The Galaxy S26 Plus scores a 50 MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 12 MP ultrawide, and a 10 MP telephoto with 3X optical zoom. 

The Galaxy S26 Ultra will retain its latest setup: a 200MP main camera, a 50MP 5X periscope, a 50MP ultrawide, and a 10MP 3X telephoto. The main and the longer telephoto have slightly wider apertures, but these have little effect on small sensors. 

Its camera now comes with better image-processing and brighter apertures; letting more light in the camera is always welcome! There are also improvements to video stabilization: the phone uses real-time gyro and accelerometer data to keep horizons level and deliver smooth videos. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is also the first Galaxy to support the APV (Advanced Professional Video) format.

Any and all improvements will therefore be on the software side of things, with improved image-processing the only way to enhance image quality. Both devices retain their usual 12MP selfie cameras and score AI-powered improvements that promise to boost hair texture resolution and deliver better skin tones. 

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn't score a larger battery than the 5,000 mAh battery we've seen on all of its Ultra phones so far. The same applies to the Galaxy S26 Plus, which also comes with a 4,900 mAh battery, similar to the Galaxy S25 Plus. 

Could we solely rely on the chipset's efficiency to boost battery life when faced with similarly sized batteries? I definitely hope this turns out to be true. 

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has scored a charging upgrade from 45 to 60 W in what Samsung calls Super Fast Charging 3.0. On that note, the Galaxy S26 Plus keeps its 45 W charging. Apparently, Super Fast Charging 3.0 is a true flagship feature, as per Samsung. 

The Galaxy S256 Ultra supports 25W wireless charging, while the Galaxy S26 Plus is slightly slower at up to 20 W. Neither one has magnetic accessory attachment like on the iPhone or the Pixel.