Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: There’s a Catch

Summary

MKBHD delivers his full review of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, framing the entire phone around the concept of trade-offs. The headline feature is the Privacy Display, a genuinely innovative technology that uses two types of pixels — wide-angle and narrow-angle — to instantly limit viewing angles on demand, preventing anyone beside you from seeing your screen. However, this comes at significant cost: when privacy mode is on, half the pixels turn off, cutting resolution in half with visibly blockier edges. Even with privacy off, viewing angles are slightly worse all the time because of the narrow focusing lenses on half the pixels. Samsung also stuck with an 8-bit display panel rather than the 10-bit panels appearing in competitors.

The design gets thinner, lighter, and rounder, but this too introduces trade-offs. The rounded corners mean the S Pen slot is now capped with a slight curve instead of being flat, and the camera plateau causes the phone to rock viciously on a table. Performance is solid with the Snapdragon chip showing slightly higher benchmarks than its predecessor, and battery life is marginally improved with a 5,000 mAh battery, but Marques is frustrated that Samsung still has no Qi2 magnets and still has not significantly improved charging speed. He cites Mrwhosetheboss’s battery test showing the S26 Ultra improving over last gen but falling behind dedicated battery phones.

On cameras, the bigger apertures on the main and 5X lenses let in more light with slightly softer backgrounds, and a new super aggressive video stabilization mode produces impressively smooth Quad HD footage. The AI software features are described as ranging from genuinely useful (call screening, Audio Eraser) to “slop” (Photo Assist letting users fabricate scenes). Marques closes by calling out the S26 and S26 Plus as poor values at $900, arguing they have the same cameras since S23, lost millimeter wave, and use Exynos in many markets. The S26 Ultra itself is a good phone whose price is “probably the most ultra thing about it.”

Highlights

”This Is a Genuinely… Innovation”

“But they’ve added this the Privacy Display. Incredibly useful feature. You toggle it on or off whenever you want, it instantly limits the viewing, preventing anyone from looking. This is a genuinely innovation. It’s special that it’s actually something which we really don’t get that often in the smartphone world these days.” — Marques Brownlee, 1:28

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”I Literally Bought a Microscope for This”

“So your resolution is cut in half and you can actually see it like there’s blockier edges and fine contrast here. I literally bought a microscope for this.” — Marques Brownlee, 3:12

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”No Qi2 Magnets??”

“No Qi2 magnets?? That seems like it would… And I know you want to sell lots Samsung, but wouldn’t you also want to maybe too?” — Marques Brownlee, 7:16

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”Slop Is Another Word I Could Use”

“The rest of what’s new on an S26 Ultra could be described as software. It’s a word you could use. Slop is another word I could use. The word Samsung would use is ‘agentic.’ But… nah.” — Marques Brownlee, 9:26

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”S26 and S26 Plus Are Not Good Deals Anymore”

“I would just like to take this and say the S26 and S26 Plus are not good deals anymore. The designs are basically the same, basically the same cameras since S23. They got rid of millimeter wave. It’s also an Exynos chip in a lot of markets. It’s now $900. You can get a lot more phone for $900.” — Marques Brownlee, 10:49

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”And That’s the Trade-Off”

“But it doesn’t have a super advanced charging or wireless charging. And it also doesn’t have magnets, and they still don’t have… But they do have one super cool, very advanced, one-of-one feature. And that’s the trade-off.” — Marques Brownlee, 12:05

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Key Points

• Privacy Display (1:28) - Genuinely innovative feature using dual pixel types to limit viewing angles on demand; toggle it per-app or per-notification
• Resolution trade-off (3:02) - Privacy mode turns off half the pixels, cutting resolution in half with visible blocky edges
• Viewing angle degradation (3:49) - Even with privacy off, the narrow focusing lenses make viewing angles slightly worse all the time
• Still 8-bit display (4:08) - Samsung stuck with 8-bit panel rather than moving to native 10-bit like competitors
• Anti-reflective coating regression (4:01) - Not as good at anti-reflective performance as the S25 Ultra
• Thinner and rounder design (5:16) - Phone got thinner, lighter, and rounder, but introduces new problems
• S Pen slot curved (5:30) - Rounded corners mean the S Pen now goes in capped with a slight curve instead of flat
• Phone rocks on table (5:52) - Camera plateau design combined with thin body makes it rock viciously when typing without a case
• Snapdragon chip upgrade (6:14) - Slightly higher benchmarks than Snapdragon 8 Elite but still roughly the same yearly improvement
• Battery life slight improvement (6:52) - 5,000 mAh battery again with slightly better efficiency; standby time still not as good as iPhones
• No Qi2 magnets (7:16) - Samsung still refuses to add Qi2 magnetic alignment; frustrating omission
• Charging speed unchanged (7:06) - Phone charges only slightly faster; missed opportunity for significantly better battery life
• Camera aperture upgrades (8:07) - Bigger aperture on main and 5X lenses lets in more light; 3X about the same
• Minimum focus distance increased (8:30) - Noticed a downgrade in minimum focus distance for macro-style shooting
• Super aggressive stabilization (8:50) - New video stabilization mode shoots ridiculously stable Quad HD video by cropping into the large sensor
• AI features are “slop” (9:26) - Call screening is welcome; Audio Eraser works well; Photo Assist lets you fabricate images; Samsung calls it “agentic”
• S26/S26 Plus poor value (10:49) - Same cameras since S23, lost millimeter wave, Exynos in many markets, now $900 — terrible value proposition

Mentions

Companies

• Samsung (0:37) - Maker of the Galaxy S26 Ultra; criticized for pricing and missing features
• Apple (6:12) - Referenced for iPhone’s titanium design and better standby battery life
• Qualcomm (6:14) - Maker of the Snapdragon chip powering the S26 Ultra
• Polestar (9:16) - Talking head footage in Polestar 4 video was shot on the S26 Ultra

Products & Technologies

• Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (0:37) - The main product reviewed; $1,300 flagship with Privacy Display
• Privacy Display (1:31) - Dual-pixel-type display technology for on-demand viewing angle restriction
• S Pen (5:30) - Stylus now inserts with slight curve due to rounded corner design change
• Snapdragon 8 Elite (6:17) - Previous generation chip; S26 Ultra’s new chip benchmarks slightly higher
• Qi2 (7:16) - Magnetic wireless charging standard Samsung still has not adopted
• Audio Eraser (9:50) - AI feature that removes background noise from videos; described as working well
• Photo Assist (9:57) - AI editing tool that lets you create images of things that never happened
• Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (4:07) - Previous model with better anti-reflective coating
• Exynos (11:08) - Samsung’s own chip used in S26/S26 Plus in many markets instead of Snapdragon

People

• Mrwhosetheboss / Arun (7:46) - YouTube reviewer whose battery test showed S26 Ultra improving over last gen but behind dedicated battery phones

Surprising Quotes

“I literally bought a microscope for this.” — Marques Brownlee, 3:12

“Slop is another word I could use. The word Samsung would use is ‘agentic.’ But… nah.” — Marques Brownlee, 9:32

“You can get a lot more phone for $900 but Samsung doesn’t really seem to care.” — Marques Brownlee, 11:23

“The price is probably the most ultra thing about it.” — Marques Brownlee, 11:46

“But they do have one super cool, very advanced, one-of-one feature that is… And that’s the trade-off.” — Marques Brownlee, 12:18

Transcript

0:37 You know, we can still hear what you’re… What? Nevermind. You might remember all my impressions of it before actually getting it. And those impressions… But just a few things that are new are pretty interesting. But I have been using this and the more I’ve used it, the more I think about trade-offs. Everything is a trade-off. And this new display is maybe one of the best studies in that in a long time.

1:24 You know it’s a lot of the same, right? It’s a 6.9-inch big OLED display, one to 120Hz, et cetera. But they’ve added this the Privacy Display. Incredibly useful feature. You toggle it on or off whenever you want, it instantly limits the viewing, preventing anyone from looking. Now yes, you could always just buy a cheap $20, $30 screen protector like this one. But this actually blocks all viewing angles. But also because it’s built in you can turn it on for when you want to.

2:04 So maybe only in certain apps, so you can have it only block out or even only block out incoming notifications. This is a genuinely innovation. It’s special that it’s actually something which we really don’t get that often in the smartphone world these days. But like I said, everything is a trade-off.

2:28 The way they pulled this off is with two types of pixels on this new display. Wide-angle pixels that you can see from any angle and narrow-angle pixels that seem to have some type of focusing lens on them. So when you’re just using the phone normally all the pixels are on, but when you decide to turn on privacy mode it simply turns off the wide-angle pixels and it leaves only the narrow-angle ones. So you achieve that privacy filter effect.

2:58 But now that also means you just turned off half the pixels. So your resolution is cut in half and you can actually see it like there’s blockier edges and fine contrast here. I literally bought a microscope for this. And this is Privacy Display on. You can see those pixels.

3:25 So yes, less resolution and also yes, a slight dimming. You normally don’t notice that because the narrow-angle pixels that are staying on keep the brightness up. But if you’re at a high enough brightness, you will actually see it get a little dimmer.

3:49 And even in regular use, the viewing angle is slightly worse all the time. If you’ve added a narrow focusing lens to half the pixels, that means that your viewing angle is slightly worse all the time because half of these pixels now have restricted viewing angles. It also appears to have a different coating that is not as good at the anti-reflective thing that was so good on S25 Ultra.

4:08 And it also turns out it’s still an 8-bit panel instead of a full native 10-bit display like so many others have added. But I think that Samsung knows that most people are not pixel peepers. Like even on this display, out the box it’s set to lower resolution because they assume that most people prefer longer battery life as a trade-off.

4:33 So nerds like me will lock in and change the settings right out the box and notice more, the slight resolution differences. And we’ll upvote every comment on using the 8-bit display again. But at the end of the day, this is the trade-off that Samsung made to have this one really cool feature that they probably believe most people will love.

4:57 But to be totally clear, the Privacy Display is awesome. But like I said, just know what you’re getting into. That’s the best display that you can get for your 1,300 bucks, ironically probably also the one with the most privacy. But if that’s your number one priority, it’s great. Also, subscribe for more.

5:16 Here’s another trade-off: this new design. And it’s not even really a radical change. They just made the phone a little thinner, a little lighter and a little rounder. It’s in line with the rest of the flagship phones that they make. But it comes with downsides. Like since the corners are more round, that means the part where the S Pen goes in is now capped with a slight curve instead of totally flat. So now the S Pen can only go back in one way unlike last year where it was flat so you didn’t have to think about that at all.

5:46 Also, since the camera bump is now a camera plateau with rings on top of it, which combined with a thinner body means this phone rocks this viciously on a table. When I’m trying to type with no case… I’m sure most people just throw a case on, but, yeah.

6:03 And switching back to titanium, honestly, makes no real difference in daily use. But it does mean people will be able to compare it to the iPhone’s titanium for no reason.

6:14 The new chip is the Snapdragon… so I benchmarked it alongside the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Similar scores, slightly higher actually but still right around the yearly incremental improvement. Samsung seems to be much more focused on AI features on the phone. We’ll get there. But yeah, the performance is generally great. It’s almost a formality at this point. Hey, are animations smooth? Can it handle heavy multitasking? Yep!

6:49 The redesigned vapor chamber is keeping the phone doing just fine, and battery life is actually slightly improved. 5,000 milliamp hour battery again but the chip and display are a bit more efficient. Standby time still not quite as good as iPhones but solid, and this phone charges slightly faster.

7:09 Now I do have to say though, you probably know exactly where I’m going. No Qi2 magnets?? That seems like it would be an easy add. And I know you want to sell lots of accessories Samsung, but wouldn’t you also want to maybe support the standard too? And then, I know you’ve had battery concerns but wouldn’t you want to be eligible for even better charging too?

7:38 I think a phone that has more battery and faster charging would be universally appreciated. Mrwhosetheboss, Arun. He just did his battery test that showed improved battery life of S26 Ultra over the last gen, but it also kind of shows it getting beaten by dedicated battery phones from last year. It’s not surprising that they’re improving but it’s also still kind of frustrating because this phone could have been so much higher, so much more.

8:07 These cameras are mostly the same but I think that actually matters. There’s a bigger aperture on the main camera, the 3X is about the same, and then a bigger aperture on the 5X. So both of these cameras let more light in with benefits that come with that, including slightly softer backgrounds. And as a photographer, I feel like I’m always going to take advantage of that.

8:30 The minimum focus distance, though, has increased, so I don’t know if that’s a trade-off. There is still macro mode, but I did notice that downgrade. Not a disaster, but worth noting.

8:42 The more noticeable camera changes are actually the ones enabled by software. The new night mode works great! They also added this super aggressive video stabilization mode and it’s not the first time we’ve seen it, but it is one of the best implementations. It takes advantage of this huge sensor and crops in to shoot ridiculously stable, still Quad HD video. That is pretty sick!

9:08 The video footage with the slightly wider aperture looks great too. All of the talking head footage on my Polestar 4 video was shot on this S26 Ultra, so if you want to look at some real-world examples I’ll link that below the like button.

9:23 The rest of what’s new on an S26 Ultra could be described as software. It’s a word you could use. Slop is another word I could use. The word Samsung would use is “agentic.” But… nah. There’s a ton of AI features ranging from call screening, which is very welcome and very useful, to Audio Eraser, which does a good job of removing background noise in videos, all the way to Photo Assist, which lets you edit photos to create scenes that never actually happened.

10:03 And you can scroll through a lot of the new stuff in here. I think, honestly, take it or leave it. You can choose to use as much or as little as you want. You can go full slop mode or you can kind of just ignore it. I will say, I also tried many things with Photo Assist and to its credit it refused many of the more extreme requests. So, you know, yay for safeguards, I guess.

10:35 I’m just not convinced any of this is a reason to buy the phone, especially when a lot of it could make its way to other Samsung phones through a software update.

10:46 So then lastly, I would just like to take this opportunity to say the S26 and S26 Plus are not good deals anymore. The designs are basically unchanged, basically the same cameras since S23. They got rid of millimeter wave. It’s also an Exynos chip in a lot of markets and they got rid of the 128 gig version, but they just kept the same price. So that just means the effective price went up. It’s now $900. You can get a lot more phone for $900 but Samsung doesn’t really seem to care. Just wanted to put that out there. You probably have to vote with your wallet to actually do anything.

11:38 You know, the S26 Ultra is also very pricey. But I can at least say it’s a really good phone. I just think the price is probably the most ultra thing about it. You know, like, it’s a big phone, sure, and it’s got ultra-ish cameras and chip. But aside from that, it’s kind of like an S26 Plus Plus. Does that make sense?

12:05 But it doesn’t have a super advanced charging or wireless charging. And it also doesn’t have magnets, and they still don’t have a 10-bit display. But they do have one super cool, very advanced, one-of-one feature that is the Privacy Display. And that’s the trade-off. Thanks for watching. Catch you guys in the next one.