Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has just hit the market, and the perceptions are divided. Irrespective of the debate around it, I had already made up my mind to make the upgrade. But over the course of the past few days, since its launch, the fine print and a few unexpected cuts got exposed. And ultimately, they convinced me to sit this one out.
Having spent days going through all its upgrades and downgrades – yes, there are many – I decided to skip this update with a heavy heart after all the early enthusiasm. If you, too, are planning to get the new Galaxy S26 Ultra, you might want to reconsider your decision and read this first.
Privacy Display comes at a high cost
Samsung’s Privacy Display is the centerpiece of the S26 Ultra, and it’s genuinely cool. It blocks nosy people from peeking at your screen in public. Great idea, except there’s an uncomfortable trade-off: the S26 Ultra’s screen is not as bright as the S25 Ultra, even with Privacy Display turned off.
Samsung rates the screen for up to 2,600 nits, but lab testing shows a peak brightness of 1,806 nits, compared to the 1,860 nits recorded on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. That’s a small gap on paper, but it is quite noticeable in real life.
To make matters worse, several reviewers have reported that text on the display appears blurry compared to the S25 Ultra, even with the privacy display switched off.
One user on Twitter even reported experiencing eye strain after prolonged use. For me, that’s a potential dealbreaker, since most of what I do on my phone involves texting or reading articles for long periods of time.
Samsung promised 10-bit color and then took it back
This one is almost hard to digest. During the Galaxy S26 press briefing, Samsung told journalists that one of the upgrades over the S25 Ultra was a 10-bit color depth display.
However, users noticed that the product specifications page only mentioned that the display offers 16.7 million colors, which corresponds with 8-bit color specs. Once this controversy got highlighted, a Samsung spokesperson reached out to confirm that the S26 Ultra’s display is an 8-bit display that simulates 10-bit color depth.
And this isn’t just a theoretical difference on a spec sheet. In hands-on testing with the S26 Ultra alongside phones with true 10-bit panels, including the OnePlus 15, the gap was noticeable in HDR content. Skies don’t fade as smoothly, and darker transitions feel a bit harsher.
Even if you can’t actually tell the difference in daily use, the mismatch between what was promised and what customers received is difficult to accept.
The 3x camera quietly got worse
The cameras on the S26 Ultra may appear the same at first glance, but a closer look at the specs tells a different story. Although both telephoto cameras feature a 10MP telephoto sensor with an f/2.4 aperture, a 67mm focal length, PDAF, OIS, and 3x optical zoom, the key difference lies in the sensor and pixel size.
The Galaxy S25 Ultra uses a larger 1/3.52″ sensor with 1.12µm pixels, compared to the smaller 1/3.94″ sensor with 1.0µm pixels on the S26 Ultra. In bright daylight, the difference may not be noticeable, with both cameras delivering fairly similar results.
But push either camera into a dimly lit restaurant or a late evening shoot, and the gap will start to show. The smaller 1/3.94″ sensor on the S26 Ultra captures less light, which means you will see more noise and less detail. It will perform worse in low ambient light situations.
The design choices I don’t quite understand
This is more of a subjective opinion, but I don’t like the new design of the S26 Ultra. The new camera island design doesn’t appeal to me, and I honestly prefer what we had with the S25 Ultra.
Then there’s the decision to move back to aluminum from titanium, which almost feels like blindly following the iPhone.The device is slimmer, sure, but it’s also taller and wider, and offers a worse screen-to-body ratio. On a positive note, the more rounded design should make it comfortable to hold.
None of these things on their own is a deal breaker, but taken together, they make the device feel like a slight downgrade, at least in my opinion.
The charge cycle confusion
The EU’s EPREL database lists the S26 Ultra rated for 1,200 charge cycles before dropping to 80% capacity, compared to the S25 Ultra’s 2,000 cycles. That sounds alarming, but it’s not the whole story.
The S25 Ultra launched before June 2025, when EU testing standards were less strict, and charge cycles weren’t precisely defined. The S26 Ultra was likely tested under the newer, stricter rules, which explains the discrepancy.
In real-world use, the S26 Ultra’s battery should degrade at the same rate as its predecessor. And if anything, the more efficient Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip means the S26 Ultra lasts longer on a single charge.
As far as I can tell, the battery cycle story is essentially a non-issue, and you can remove it from your list of concerns.
While Samsung cuts corners, rivals are stepping up
Here’s the thing: at $1,299, the S26 Ultra isn’t competing in a vacuum. The OnePlus 15 comes in at a significantly lower price while offering comparable performance and a battery that easily outclasses Samsung’s flagship.
Then there’s the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which boasts a 12-bit display with 3,500 nits of peak brightness and a 6,000 mAh battery with 90W fast charging. The reality is that Samsung’s flagship is no longer the undisputed winner it once was.
If you’re upgrading from an S23 Ultra or an older device, the S26 Ultra is still worth considering, but if you’re already using an S25 Ultra, there isn’t enough new here to justify making the jump.
