Samsung Galaxy S26/Ultra Impressions: 1 Crazy Display Feature!

Summary

MKBHD covers Samsung’s Galaxy S26 lineup, which launched with noticeable price increases across the board — the S26 starts at $899, the S26+ at $1,100, and the Ultra at $1,300. The hardware updates are incremental: a new Snapdragon chip, slightly thinner Ultra design with aluminum frame, redesigned vapor chamber, improved charging speeds, and wider camera apertures. Still no magnets and no silicon-carbon batteries.

The standout feature is the S26 Ultra’s hardware-level privacy display. Unlike aftermarket privacy screen protectors that always degrade the viewing experience, Samsung’s implementation uses pixel-level control to make the screen fade to gray or black when viewed off-axis, while looking completely normal head-on. It can be toggled on/off, set for specific apps or locations, and even applied to just portions of the screen like password fields. MKBHD calls it “the most Samsung thing ever,” fitting into the company’s history of display innovations from curved screens to foldables.

The AI features range from useful (call screening cloned from Pixel, LLM-powered Bixby, “Nudge” keyboard assistant) to questionable (AI-generated photo manipulation in the gallery, Creative Studio). MKBHD expresses concern about the slippery slope of AI photo manipulation on phones.

Highlights

”That’s genuinely really sick!”

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“This is a hardware-level control over the pixels on the display… when you turn it on, the display should look normal, but as you get off-axis, it actually fades to gray and almost black from both the horizontal… anyone trying to look over your shoulder will see basically a blank screen. That’s genuinely really sick!” — Marques Brownlee, 3:16

”The most Samsung thing ever”

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“This also to me, if you think about it, is the most Samsung thing ever… they’re also the same company that did the Galaxy Note Edge, the Galaxy Fold… curved screen, waterfall screen, folding screen, multiple folding screen… this feels like a very Samsung move and I hope it catches on.” — Marques Brownlee, 4:28

”Just for the password field”

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“You can also have it in certain locations or for certain apps, like just for your banking or photos app… just for the password field, while you’re filling in, it will just black out that part… I just think this is awesome!” — Marques Brownlee, 4:01

”Throwing a bunch of AI to see what sticks”

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“Creative Studio, which is kind of the same thing as, like, borderline useless in my opinion. It feels like they’re just throwing a bunch of AI just to see what will stick… I feel like in an age where it’s more important than ever to trust what comes from people’s cell phones, the slippery slope of, like, it’s weird.” — Marques Brownlee, 6:36

Key Points

• Price increases (0:59) - S26 is $899 (up from S25), S26+ is $1,100, Ultra is $1,300, significant price creep across the lineup
• Design similarity (0:39) - Designs are very similar to last year with slightly different camera plateau
• Snapdragon chip upgrade (1:45) - All models got the expected spec bump with new Snapdragon processor
• Ultra design updates (1:59) - Slightly thinner, back to aluminum frame, redesigned vapor chamber
• Faster charging (2:18) - 25W on S26, 45W on S26+, improved over previous generation
• Camera aperture improvements (2:36) - Wider apertures on Ultra cameras, f/3.4 to f/2.4 on the 3X telephoto
• No magnets or silicon-carbon (2:45) - Still missing magnetic charging and next-gen battery tech
• Privacy display feature (2:50) - Hardware-level pixel control to block off-axis viewing, Ultra exclusive
• Per-app and per-screen privacy (4:01) - Privacy mode can be set for specific apps, locations, or portions of the screen
• Samsung display innovation history (4:28) - Fits Samsung’s pattern from curved screens to foldables to tri-fold
• Call screening (5:43) - Cloned from Pixel, a welcome addition to Samsung phones
• Nudge keyboard AI (5:48) - Context-aware AI assistant living in the keyboard
• LLM-powered Bixby (6:03) - Bixby upgraded with large language model capabilities and Gemini integrations
• AI photo manipulation concerns (6:36) - Samsung pushing AI image editing in gallery; MKBHD concerned about trust implications

Mentions

Companies

• Samsung (0:05) - Manufacturer of the Galaxy S26 lineup
• dbrand (7:55) - Sponsor, offering S26 cases at Best Buy

Products & Technologies

• Galaxy S26 (0:59) - Base model, $899
• Galaxy S26 Ultra (1:04) - Top model at $1,300 with privacy display
• Galaxy S25 (1:09) - Previous generation for price comparison
• Galaxy Note Edge (4:43) - Historic Samsung phone with curved display
• Galaxy Fold (4:55) - Samsung’s first foldable phone
• Bixby (6:03) - Samsung’s voice assistant, now LLM-powered
• Gemini (6:08) - Google AI integrations in Samsung phones

People

• Brandon (0:20) - MKBHD team member who attended the event in California

Surprising Quotes

“This is not one of their big Hail Marys. My take is the Ultra feels like a little excuse to try this privacy screen thing.” — 7:25

“They’re actually calling it an AI phone… which I don’t love. I feel like in an age where it’s more important than ever to trust what comes from people’s cell phones, the slippery slope is weird.” — 6:51

“So just a lot of price creep… it feels like they’re making room for something else.” — 1:37

Transcript

0:00 Yo, what’s up? And welcome to what was supposed to be the new Samsung phones this year. Unfortunately, that is in California, and it just snowed and that shut down all the flights. So, I’m still here, and the event is still in California. Brandon from the team did actually make it from a city that got way less snow. And so he’s seen the phones, he sent it back to me. I’ve got the spec sheets here, so I’m going to put it all together and look at what looks like a kind of interesting year.

0:39 And so as expected, the designs — well, they’re pretty similar to last year and a slightly different looking extra plateau around them now. The first thing that stuck out — typically I’ll just save that for the end, but not this time. This time, the S26 is $900, and the S26 Ultra is $1,300. So this comes with a price increase. If you remember, last year the S25 launched at a certain price. This year, the S26 is $899. But then also, the S26+ is 256 gigs and it’s 100 bucks more — it’s $1,100 instead of $1,000. And then the Ultra was $1,300.

1:27 They’ve always come out with the year as like the mid-range priced version of the phone, but it feels like they’re making room for something. So just a lot of price creep. So then if that’s the bad news, then what is actually new? Well, they all got the spec bump we expected. We’ve seen this non-Galaxy version and there’s a lot of talk about stuff on the Samsung one. More on that in a minute.

1:59 And then the Ultra specifically is also a slightly updated design, so it’s a little bit thinner now. It’s also back to aluminum and they’ve redesigned the vapor chamber. And there’s also now slightly improved charging speeds. Nothing dramatic, but 25 watts on the S26, 45 watts on the S26+.

2:28 And then pretty much all the rest of the changes are on the Ultra which now has slightly wider apertures on those cameras just to let more light in. So looks like we’re going from f/3.4 to f/2.4 on the 3X. Pretty modest hardware changes. Still no magnets and still no silicon-carbon batteries.

2:49 But there is one really cool feature to me, and it’s just in the Ultra phone — a privacy display feature. So I saw leaks of this; I didn’t want to look into it too much. You know those privacy screen protectors people put on phones to kind of block others from seeing what’s on their screen? Probably seen one on someone. They look kind of horrible.

3:16 So instead of that which is annoying and also always on, this is a hardware-level control over the pixels on the display. And when you turn it on, the display should look normal, but as you get off-axis, it actually fades to gray and almost black from both the horizontal sides. So you’re still seeing a normal display, but anyone trying to look over your shoulder will see basically a blank screen. That’s genuinely really sick!

3:51 I’m not gonna judge why you need this, but there is actually a pretty good set of controls for when this works or when you can use it. So you can turn it on or off, obviously, but you can also have it activate in certain locations or for certain apps, like just for your banking or photos app. It can even apply to just parts of the screen — so just for the password field, while you’re filling in, it will just black out that portion. Or just for the top part of the notification area. I just think this is awesome!

4:28 This also to me, if you think about it, is the most Samsung thing ever. Like, Samsung has been super conservative especially with the design. But they’re also the same company that did the Galaxy Note Edge back in the day, wrapping the display over the bezel for the first time, and then that turned into the Galaxy S Edge with both sides melted over. They did the Galaxy Note first, and then of course Galaxy Fold. And now they have a literal tri-fold. All of these crazy display innovations — curved screen, waterfall screen, folding screen, multiple folding screen. So this feels like a very Samsung move and I hope it catches on, because I know if any other phone maker had this their fans would all be loving it too. I just hope this finds some success and starts making its way to other phones, because it’s sick.

5:27 Most of the rest of what’s new, you’re going to see commercials with it. I’m guessing most of the keynote was about AI features and they range from decently useful to just trying a bunch of stuff. They managed to clone over some features like call screening, which is welcome. They also added their own keyboard AI feature which they’re calling Nudge, which basically lives in the keyboard to bring in context from other apps. It’s context-aware; it should be decently helpful.

6:00 And there’s also big news about Bixby now being LLM-powered. We’ve seen some other companies do this, but with some Gemini integrations it could be decent. But then they also did AI gallery editing which is essentially like AI photo manipulation built into the gallery. Creative Studio, which is kind of the same thing — borderline useless in my opinion. It feels like they’re just throwing a bunch of AI just to see what will stick, see what people will like.

6:51 They’re actually calling it an AI phone with some of the stuff I’ve seen for it, which I don’t love. I feel like in an age where it’s more important than ever to trust what comes from people’s cell phones, the slippery slope is weird. I’m not sure I love how far they’re pushing it.

7:11 Anyway, no real massive surprises. These all very much look and feel like last year’s phones where most of the differences are just the small quality-of-life things under the hood. This is not one of their big Hail Marys. My take is the Ultra feels like a little excuse to try this privacy screen thing. I’m very excited to see it in person and try it out — looks pretty sick! The base phones going up in price? Not so excited about that. Seems like they didn’t try a whole lot new there.

7:44 But let me know what else you noticed in the comments section below. Get subscribed to see the full review, because that’s what the button is for. Thanks for watching. Let me know what you think. Catch you guys in the next one. Peace!