The new Samsung Galaxy S26 Family from the left: The S26 Ultra, S26+, and S26.
Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy S26 series, and it comes with a rather unique new feature. The Galaxy S26 Ultra has a built-in Privacy Display that narrows the screen's viewing angle so people next to you can't see what's on your phone. What this means is that these new phones won’t need a dedicated privacy screen protector to achieve this effect.
The display uses a hardware technology called Flex Magic Pixel, which has two types of pixels that can switch between wide and narrow light output. When Privacy Display is on, the screen stays clear for you but dims to near-invisibility from the sides.
The implementation is pretty flexible, too. You can toggle it on from Quick Settings if you need it in a pinch, or set it to activate automatically for specific apps like banking, or to kick in whenever you're entering a PIN or password. There's also a Maximum Privacy mode that restricts the viewing angle even further.
The best part is that Privacy Display doesn't affect color or brightness for the person holding the phone. In fact, you can't tell it's on unless you view your phone from the side. That’s a big advantage over physical privacy screen protectors, which always lack brightness even when viewed straight on and lock you into a dim, off-axis view all the time.
Incremental upgrades everywhere else
Beyond Privacy Display, the S26 Ultra's improvements are solid but incremental. The main camera's aperture, which controls how much light the lens lets in, has widened from f/1.7 to f/1.4 on the S25 Ultra. That means it lets in 47% more light, which should make a noticeable difference for photos and videos in dim restaurants, concerts, and other low-light situations. The telephoto zoom camera has also opened up to f/2.9 from f/3.4, picking up 37% more light for brighter zoomed-in shots. Samsung was expected to bring back variable aperture, which lets the camera automatically adjust how much light it takes in depending on the scene, last seen in the Galaxy S10 in 2019. However, the S26 does not get this feature, which makes the update less exciting.
The new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor is faster across the board, with a 19% boost in general processing, 24% better graphics for gaming, and the biggest jump being a 39% improvement in AI performance. You will be able to take advantage of the improved performance of Now Nudge, a new feature that reads what's on your screen and suggests helpful shortcuts. If someone texts you asking for photos from a trip, it can pull up the relevant images from your gallery so you can send them in a few taps. It's a nifty idea, though Google has been doing something similar with Google Photos for a while now.
Charging has gotten a bump, too, with Super Fast Charging 3.0. Samsung says you can get to 75% in 30 minutes, up from 69% on the S25 Ultra. This isn’t a big upgrade, but if you're often low on battery and need a charge in a rush, you'll get a little more juice in the same amount of time.
What about magnetic charging?
The Galaxy S26 series supports wireless charging at up to 15W for the S26, 25W for the S26+, and 25W for the S26 Ultra. However, Samsung still hasn’t added built-in magnetic wireless charging to the S26 series, which will disappoint people hoping to take advantage of Apple’s MagSafe ecosystem. Google rolled out their version of magnetic charging, PixelSnap, with the Pixel 10 series last fall.
Read more: Pixel 10: Big AI Leap and Magnetic Charging Upgrade
In practice, though, it doesn’t matter as much as it sounds. Case makers, including ESR and Spigen, are already offering magnetic cases for the S26 lineup, which enable snap-on charging and accessory compatibility. So for most people, the lack of built-in magnets will be a non-issue.
ESR Classic Hybrid Magnetic Case shown on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Pricing goes up, but value doesn’t
What I’m not happy about is that despite the very incremental upgrades, the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ both got $100 price increases, starting at $899.99 and $1,099.99, respectively. The S26 Ultra stays at $1,299.99 for the 256GB model. However, the higher storage tiers have also gone up, with the 1TB version now at $1,799.99. Samsung has also dropped the free storage upgrade that used to come with pre-orders.
You can preorder the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and S26 Ultra now in White, Black, Sky Blue, Cobalt Violet, Silver Shadow (online only), and Pinkgold (online only). Preorders will arrive on March 11.
The Samsung Galaxy S26+ shown (from the left) in Cobalt Violet, Black, Sky Blue, and White.
If you already own an S24 or S25, the S26 series phones aren't worth the asking price, unless the Privacy Display feature is really important to you. However, if you’re coming from an S23 or older, the S26 lineup will feel like a meaningful upgrade across performance, camera quality, and charging.
Read more: How to Use MagSafe Chargers and Accessories with Your Android Phone
[Image credit: Samsung, ESR]
