The Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung’s latest flagship Galaxy S-series phone, needed a gimmick to give it extra oomph over premium devices like the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Google Pixel 10 Pro. So that’s exactly what Samsung did with the phone’s “Privacy display” feature that, with the tap of a button, makes it harder or nearly impossible for anyone to peep at your screen.
The Privacy display feature works as advertised, and it’s more than just a hardware-level privacy screen protector, but it’s not without some minor tradeoffs. The rest of the Galaxy S26 Ultra is as you’d expect: feature-packed but not exactly groundbreaking. The phone is slimmer and lighter (though the camera bump and rings remain massive), so it feels better to use and slip into a pocket. The cameras take excellent photos and video. And I’ve got nothing to complain about for performance and battery life.
For a phone that starts at $1,300 and has it all—including a built-in stylus—I felt pretty indifferent while reviewing it. To be fair, I could say the same for the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Pixel 10 Pro, and any other premium phone. These are all just better versions of previous models. Unless you’re upgrading from a much older phone, in which case all of the features might really wow you, the only temptation to get the Galaxy S26 Ultra is for the Privacy display feature, but the novelty may quickly wear off.
