Samsung launches Galaxy S26 Ultra featuring world's first privacy screen
What's the story
Samsung has officially launched its latest flagship Galaxy S26 smartphone series. The new lineup includes three models: the standard Galaxy S26, a larger Galaxy S26+, and a premium Galaxy S26 Ultra. While they look similar to last year's models, these new devices come with significant upgrades under the hood. Samsung's approach is more about enhancing user experience than just increasing specifications on paper.
AI integration
AI enhancements in the Galaxy S26 series
Samsung has introduced a bunch of new and improved AI features with the Galaxy S26 series. The most notable among them is Now Nudge, which provides timely and context-aware suggestions. Other improvements include a more proactive and personalized Now Brief, enhanced multi-object recognition with Circle to Search, and AI-powered Call Screening that identifies unknown callers' intent.
Ultra model
Privacy Display on Galaxy S26 Ultra
The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with a unique built-in Privacy Display, a hardware-level facility that keeps content bright and clear for the user while blocking side views. The phone has a 6.9-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset. It also features a redesigned vapor chamber for better heat dissipation during gaming, multitasking, or long video recording sessions.
Photography prowess
What about the cameras?
The Galaxy S26 Ultra sports a quad-camera setup with a 200MP lens with 2x optical quality zoom, a 50MP ultra-wide snapper, a 50MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, and a 10MP telephoto unit with 3x optical zoom. The front gets a 12MP shooter for selfies and video calls. Despite keeping the battery capacity at 5,000mAh, Samsung has improved wired charging to up to 60W. The phone also supports wireless charging and Wireless PowerShare technology.
Standard models
Galaxy S26, S26+ share most specifications
The Galaxy S26 and S26+ share most of their specifications and features, with the main differences being display size and battery capacity. Both devices feature Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays with adaptive 120Hz refresh rates (1-120Hz) and Vision Booster technology. The base phone sports a 6.3-inch Full-HD+ screen, while the larger variant ups the size to a 6.7-inch QHD+ panel.
Specs
Camera, storage setup on S26, S26+
When it comes to cameras, both S26 and S26+ have a 50MP + 10MP + 12MP setup on the rear. For selfies, they flaunt a 12MP shooter. They pack a 4,300mAh and 4,900mAh battery respectively, with fast-charging support. The devices come with 12GB of RAM, a 2nm Exynos 2600 chip, and 256GB or 512GB of storage.
Market launch
One UI 8.5 based on Android 16
The Galaxy S26 series runs on One UI 8.5 with Android 16 on top and will receive seven years of OS upgrades and updates. The phones come in Cobalt Violet, White, Black, and Sky Blue colors, with Pink Gold and Silver Shadow exclusive to Samsung.com. Pre-orders for all three phones have already started at prices starting from ₹87,999 for the base S26 to ₹189,999 for the 1TB Ultra variant.