REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Samsung’s Galaxy Ultra series has followed a consistent approach over the years, refine what worked last year, improve the key specs, and introduce one headline feature to drive the upgrade conversation. The Galaxy S26 Ultra sticks to that plan. It is not a dramatic reinvention, but it is a genuinely capable flagship with one standout innovation that makes daily use noticeably more practical.

Design & Build Quality

The S26 Ultra moves away from the titanium frame of its predecessor in favour of Samsung’s new Armor Aluminum 2. This is less of a compromise than it might appear. The phone feels solid and well-constructed, and the switch to aluminium has helped bring the weight down to 214g, making it lighter and thinner at 7.9mm than last year’s model.

The front is protected by Corning Gorilla Armor 2 with an anti-reflective coating, and the phone carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. The camera module protrudes noticeably from the back, which is a practical trade-off for the optical hardware inside.

The new ambient island cutout for the front camera is cleaner than before, and the 6.9″ display now takes up more of the front face as a result. Colour options include Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White, Silver Shadow, and Pink Gold. The S Pen is still built into the chassis, which remains one of the clearest points of difference between the Ultra and every other Android flagship on the market.

Software Features

The S26 Ultra ships with Android 16 and One UI 8.5. Samsung has committed to seven years of major OS updates, which means software support runs through to 2033. For a phone at this price, that level of longevity is a serious selling point.

Galaxy AI is now in its third generation and powers a range of features designed to make daily tasks faster and require less input from the user. Now Nudge surfaces relevant suggestions based on context, and the phone can handle multi-step tasks in the background without needing constant attention. These features feel more useful and less experimental than they did at launch.

The most talked-about addition this year is Privacy Display, a world first for mobile phones. It works by selectively disabling pixels at side angles, making the screen unreadable to anyone not looking at it directly.

This is genuinely useful in crowded spaces like public transport or open-plan offices. It can be switched on or off and set per app. The trade-off is a reduction in peak brightness and viewing angle when the feature is active. It works as described, but it is worth knowing what you give up to use it.

Performance

The S26 Ultra runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, a custom version of Qualcomm’s latest 3nm chip. In everyday use the phone is fast and responsive. Apps open quickly, multitasking handles up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM without issue, and gaming performance, including ray tracing in supported titles, and other graphically intensive titles like The Division Resurgence, is the best Samsung has produced.

A redesigned Vapor Chamber improves thermal management by 21% compared to last year, so the phone stays cooler during intensive tasks like gaming sessions Storage runs from 256GB to 1TB using UFS 4.0.

Cameras

The rear camera system has four lenses. The main sensor is 200MP with an f/1.4 aperture, wider than the f/1.7 on the S25 Ultra, which helps in low light. The focal length has shifted slightly to 23mm. The 50MP periscope telephoto delivers 5x optical zoom with a new f/2.9 aperture, an improvement over the f/3.4 on last year’s model. The remaining lenses are a 50MP ultrawide and a 10MP 3x telephoto.

Low-light photography is where the improvements are most visible. Images are brighter with less noise, and AI processing handles shadows well without making results look over-edited. The Horizon Lock video feature is a practical addition.

It keeps the horizon level regardless of how the phone is held, producing stable footage even when walking or moving quickly. Video recording goes up to 8K at 30fps with 10-bit HDR and HDR10+ support.

Some inconsistency has appeared in testing, with occasional shutter lag and dynamic range issues in challenging conditions.

The 12MP front camera is unchanged from recent Ultra models, which is a missed opportunity at this price point given that competing devices have moved to higher-resolution front sensors. The results are decent, but an upgrade is overdue.

Battery Life

The S26 Ultra uses a 5,000mAh battery, the same capacity Samsung has used in the Ultra range since the S20 Ultra. Chinese competitors are now offering 6,000mAh and above, so the gap is becoming harder to ignore. In practice, most users will get through a full day without needing to charge, thanks to efficiency gains from the new chip and One UI 8.5’s power management.

Charging has been improved this year. Super Fast Charging 3.0 supports 60W wired charging and reaches 75% in around 30 minutes. Wireless charging is rated at 25W via Qi2.2, and reverse wireless charging at 4.5W supports accessories like the Galaxy Buds. These are genuine step-ups, though some rivals are already pushing wired speeds beyond 80W.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a well-executed upgrade that improves on the S25 Ultra in several meaningful areas. The lighter build, stronger chip, better low-light camera performance, and practical Privacy Display all add up to a more complete package.

It is not a dramatic leap forward, and upgrading from the S25 Ultra is hard to justify on specs alone. But for anyone coming from two or more generations back, or looking for the most capable Android phone available in 2026, the S26 Ultra makes a strong case for itself.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Pricing & Availability

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is available now priced from €1,499, with the base 256GB/12GB RAM configuration available directly from the official Samsung Store and Harvey Norman. Higher storage configurations (512GB and 1TB) are available at additional cost.