Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: There's a Catch
Marques Brownlee examines the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, highlighting how Samsung prioritized one innovative flagship feature—a Privacy Display—at the cost of multiple trade-offs across display quality, design, and battery technology. While praising the phone's genuinely useful new privacy technology and solid cameras, Brownlee argues that at $1,300, the device feels more like an incremental upgrade than a true "Ultra" flagship, with missed opportunities like missing Qi2 magnets and silicon-carbon batteries that competitors already offer.
Key takeaways
- • The Privacy Display is a genuinely novel hardware innovation that selectively blocks viewing angles for sensitive apps, but achieves this by turning off half the pixels, resulting in lower resolution, worse viewing angles at all times, and reduced peak brightness.
- • Samsung defaulted the display to 1080p resolution despite it being capable of 1440p, betting that average users prioritize battery life over display sharpness rather than catering to detail-focused enthusiasts.
- • The redesigned rounder corners and thinner body create practical downsides: the S Pen can only insert one way, and the larger camera bump causes the phone to rock viciously on tables without a case.
- • Camera improvements are modest—mainly larger apertures on the main and 5X lenses—but the standout software addition is Horizon Lock, which delivers exceptionally stable 4K video by aggressively cropping the 200MP sensor.
- • The abundance of new AI features (Photo Assist, Audio Eraser, call screening) feels like "slop" and could easily be distributed to older Samsung devices via software updates rather than justifying a new flagship purchase.
- • At $1,300, the Galaxy S26 Ultra lacks competitive advantages: no Qi2 magnets, no silicon-carbon battery, no faster charging, and no Bluetooth S Pen, making it feel like a "Plus Plus" rather than a true Ultra phone.
Recommendations (1)
"But I have been using this phone for about a week now, and the more I've used it and the more commentary I've seen about it online"
Marques Brownlee · ▶ 0:59
Mentioned (3)
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