The Galaxy S26 Ultra feels familiar right out of the box. The switches, ports, and operating logic are in the same places as its predecessor, so setup is seamless. Samsung's migration assistant copies data from your previous Android phone via cable or over the network, and users can individually select contacts, settings, photos, and apps to transfer.

A closer look reveals several changes, however. The body has changed from titanium to Armour Aluminium, the corners are more rounded than before, and the camera module now sits on a solid riser. The phone is also slightly thinner than before. It sits naturally in the hand considering its large size, but the camera protrusion makes the device unstable on a table.

Familiar but refined for everyday use

Samsung describes the Galaxy S26 series as the most intuitive Galaxy AI phone yet. After a few months of use, the S26 Ultra is, above all, a fast, customizable and predictable Android phone. The customization of menus, home screens and functions is extensive, but the number of features makes the settings difficult to understand in some places.

The phone comes with a lot of Samsung's own apps. Some of them complement the system's functions, but not all of them are necessary for everyone. You can uninstall unnecessary apps, but before uninstalling, it's worth checking whether they are related to things like backup, collaboration between devices, or other background functions.

The S Pen is still included with the Ultra model. The stylus is useful for taking notes, marking up images, and precise control of the user interface, but its role remains, depending on the user, either as a key tool or as a rarely needed additional feature.

The S Pen is still included with the Galaxy S26 Ultra and slides into its own slot inside the phone's body. The pen can be used for things like taking notes, marking up images, and precise control of the user interface.

The phone doesn't have a memory card slot or a 3,5mm headphone jack. The storage mode must therefore be selected at the time of purchase, and wired headphones are connected to the USB-C port either directly or with a separate DAC adapter. Photos and videos are backed up from the internal memory to a computer or cloud service.

Performance and thermal management

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Samsung Galaxy. Apps open quickly, multitasking is smooth, and there were no performance-limiting lags in normal use. The redesigned Vapor Chamber cooling distributes heat more widely inside the phone. According to the manufacturer, thermal management performance has improved by up to a fifth.

During the test period, the 5G connection proved to be more unstable than 4G in some areas with poor coverage. However, this observation depends on the operator, base station and location of use and does not as such indicate the performance of the phone's modem. A slow or intermittent mobile network affects the downloading of online content, but not the local computing power of the phone.

When traveling, roaming and reconnecting after airplane mode worked without any problems in the test. However, the speed was not compared to the previous model.

Battery lasts a day, charging got faster

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery. In a varied daily use, which included messaging, web browsing, taking pictures and watching videos, the battery lasted from morning to night and usually left 30-60 percent charge. With light use, the operating time can stretch into the next day, but heavy shooting, 5G connection, high screen brightness and QHD+ resolution increase consumption.

According to the manufacturer, a separately sold 60-watt power adapter charges the battery to about 75 percent in half an hour. In our test, fast charging worked quickly in practice, but an exact charging curve was not measured. Wireless charging and Wireless PowerShare are also still available.

In the Battery Protection menu, you can set the upper charge limit to 80-95 percent. This feature can reduce the need to keep the battery fully charged. When traveling or going on a long day, you can temporarily remove the limit.

When the battery level dropped below ten percent, performance seemed to slow down when shooting and using AI searches at the same time. However, in normal use, the battery level did not cause any problems.

Privacy Display is the most visible innovation

The new Privacy Display reduces the visibility of the screen when viewed from the side. It can be turned on manually or programmed to activate when entering a PIN, pattern or password, for example. When notifications arrive, the rest of the screen can be dimmed so that only the notification area remains visible.

Privacy Display reduces the visibility of the screen when viewed from the side and provides additional protection, for example in public transport or in other situations where private information is processed on the screen.

The strongest level of protection prevents peeping from the side most effectively, but at the same time the screen becomes grayer when viewed directly from the front. In practice, the feature is useful in public transport, waiting rooms and other situations where private information is processed on the screen.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra features a 6,9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a resolution of HD+, FHD+, or QHD+. The maximum resolution is 3120×1440 pixels and an adaptive refresh rate of 1–120 Hz. The image is sharp, the touch response is fast, and the scrolling is smooth. The highest resolution consumes more battery than lower settings.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra's 6,9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display reaches QHD+ resolution and 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The image sharpness and touch response are top-notch. The front glass is Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass and the back glass is Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass. The screen coating feels slippery and has withstood test use without visible marks. The need for a separate protective glass still depends on the usage conditions and the user's risk tolerance.

Galaxy AI works - partially

Verbal guidance and AI functions work best in Finnish for simple searches and clearly formulated requests. Multi-step tasks do not always produce the requested result. For example, a request to show nearby restaurants on a map produced a list of locations in the test but no actual map view and did not reliably limit the results to the immediate vicinity.

Camera-connected searches are more practical. The phone can recognize text, symbols, and objects in an image or camera view and retrieve additional information about them. Scanning text and documents automatically corrects the perspective of the image. Generative image editing can remove distracting objects with relatively little practice, although the result depends on the structure of the background.

The camera continues on a familiar basis

The camera system is similar in general to the S25 Ultra. The whole system covers focal lengths from ultra-wide angle to two telephoto cameras. The higher brightness of the main camera and image processing support shooting in low light, but most of the improvements are computational and the basic structure of the camera has not changed significantly.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra's camera module (rear) is assembled on a single raised part, while the S25 Ultra (front) has the cameras rising more separately from the back surface. The appearance has changed clearly, although the basic structure of the camera system itself is still close to its predecessor. In the S26 Ultra, the whole thing includes the main camera, an ultra-wide-angle camera and two telephoto cameras.

Shooting is fast and the automatic mode produces usable results in most situations. In Portrait mode, the subject stands out convincingly from the background, but computational errors can appear around hair, glasses, and other tricky edges. RAW shooting, Camera Assistant, and other advanced settings give you more control over the automatic mode.

In good light, images are detailed and colors are vibrant. In low light and with moving subjects, sharpening and noise reduction can become too strong. Then small details become soft and the surface can look painted.

When shooting close-ups, the fully automatic mode did not always select the correct camera or focus distance. For better results, you had to manually select the camera and shooting mode. This is especially important when focusing very close.

Familiar Ultra, moderate changes

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a very versatile and powerful Android phone, but it doesn't change the basic idea of ​​the Ultra series. The most visible new feature is the Privacy Display, and faster charging, a new processor, and improved cooling are also practical innovations.
If you already have a Galaxy S25 Ultra and are happy with it, the S26 Ultra may not be a compelling enough reason to upgrade. For those upgrading from an older model or a significantly cheaper phone, the overall package is more compelling: the display, cameras, performance, S Pen, and long software support make up a comprehensive package. The price is still high, and some of the Galaxy AI features still need to be more precise.

PROS: Sharp and responsive display / Privacy Display protects from the side / Performance and effective thermal management / Versatile camera system / Good one-day battery life / S Pen and long software support

CONS: The improvements compared to the S25 Ultra are quite minor / Galaxy AI functionality with reservations / No memory card slot or 3,5 mm headphone jack / Plenty (=too many) unnecessary pre-installed apps / High price

SAMSUNG'S OWN Galaxy S26 Ultra PRESENTATION: