Feb 28, 2026
3 min read
Every morning we unlock our phone several times on the subway, on the bus or in line at a coffee shop.It is a gesture that we perform automatically, without thinking...
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Every morning we unlock our phone several times on the subway, on the bus or in line at a cafe.It's a gesture we make automatically, without stopping to think if someone around us is reading our news and emails or seeing our photos.Samsung now has a solution, and the South Korean company has made it the star feature of its new flagship, the Galaxy S26 Ultra, unveiled this Tuesday in San Francisco.It's a phone with a screen that only the owner can see.
This is most noticeable in the first year of 2026. The Galaxy Unpacked innovation, although not the only one. At the event that Samsung celebrates every year, the company presented the Galaxy S26 series, which includes the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra, which are the third-generation phones with Galaxy AI.And while Samsung devoted much of its speech to artificial intelligence, the hardware improvements associated with it are more important than the company lets on.
The star feature of the Galaxy S26 Ultra is this personal display, the first factory Samsung has integrated into a mobile phone.It is not a rug or an accessory.The OLED panel controls how the pixels scatter light to limit what is seen from the side.
The system can have multiple levels of protection.In its partial mode, it hides pop-up notifications so that a seatmate can't read them.In maximum shading mode, the side view of the entire screen is greatly limited.The user can configure when it is activated (by entering a PIN, when opening specific applications ...) and the impact on the battery, according to Samsung, is very low.When the function is disabled, the screen image from any angle is retained.
It is an idea that has already been tried on some laptops, but transferring it to a 6.9-inch OLED panel with an adaptive frequency of 120Hz was not easy.
The S26 Ultra, the main phone of the new family, adds the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 of the Galaxy, a processor designed by Qualcomm for Samsung that comes with an improvement of 19% in the CPU, 24% in the GPU and 39% in the NPU compared to the S25 Ultra.That 39% improvement in the neural processing unit is a very important number for performance.It is what allows AI to work on the device quickly and continuously depending on the cloud.
To support this performance, Samsung has redesigned the vapor chamber that dissipates internal heat.It now has thermal interface material distributed along the sides of the processor, improving temperatures during extended gaming, video recording or multitasking sessions.
RAM is 12 GB left for the 256 and 512 GB versions, and it is up to 16 GB in the 1 TB model.The S26 and S26 + also use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in some markets, but it packs the Exynos 2600 in other parts, one that Samsung did not remove despite some user complaints.
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The S26 Ultra's camera system is another star.It has four rear sensors: a 200MP (megapixel) wide-angle lens with f/1.4 aperture (47% brighter than the previous model’s f/1.7), a 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens (f/1.9), a 50MP telephoto lens with 5x optical zoom and f/2.9 aperture (37% brighter than the previous model); there is a 10MP telephoto lens with 3times optical zoom function.The front camera is 12MP with an f/2.2 viewing angle.
The S26 and S26+ models have slightly lower specifications.The main camera is 50 MP and has one 10 MP telephoto lens, which is equivalent to 3x zoom.The ultra-wide angle also has a lower resolution of 12 MP.
Samsung has paid special attention to the video-enhanced Nightgraphy mode, which is designed to make recordings clear and vivid even in scenes with very little light.Stabilization has been updated with a horizontal lock option to keep the frame in place during rough terrain or sports activities.And a fun fact for professional creators, the S26 Ultra is the first Galaxy to support APV, designed to provide efficient compression in high-quality production workflows.
The built-in editing tools also take a leap.A better photo assistant allows you to describe in words what you want to change (change the environment from day to night, restore part of the object, correct stains on clothes ...) and you can review changes step by step and cancel at any time.
Samsung built the Galaxy S26 series as a multi-agent ecosystem based on artificial intelligence.Bixby now works as a conversational assistant that allows you to navigate the device and change settings with natural language.Google's Gemini allows booking a taxi with a single voice command, for example, and Perplexity is integrated as a smart search engine.
The Nudge feature, which was already in previous models, has been updated.Give quick ideas based on stories.If a friend asks for photos from a recent trip in a message, for example, the phone automatically provides relevant photos from the group without the user having to search for them.
Along with the phones, Samsung has introduced two new wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Buds4 and Buds4 Pro.The Pro model has a 20% larger woofer than the previous generation with adaptive active noise cancellation, 24-bit 96kHz audio and Bluetooth 6.1 connectivity.Each earbud weighs 5.1 grams and offers up to 6 hours of playback with ANC enabled.
The most impressive feature is the gesture control.You can tilt your head to accept the call or decline to decline.These also allow AI agents to be activated by voice without touching the phone.Samsung claims to have created the headphones with a computational design based on more than 10,000 simulations and global ear data for all-day comfort.The Buds4 Pro is IP57 certified and available for online purchase only in black, white and comes in rose gold.
Price and availability
Samsung has kept the same color palette throughout the series.There are four main colors: Cobalt Violet, White, Black and Blue, and two others (Rose Gold and Silver Shadow) are exclusive to the web.Pre-orders open today, February 25, with general availability coming on March 11. Samsung promises seven years of security updates across the range.
The S26 Ultra, which is the thinnest Ultra to date (weighs 214 grams and is 7.9 mm thick), packs a 5,000 mAh battery.Charge up to 75% in about 30 minutes with a 60W adapter.The S26 Ultra starts at 1,499 euros for the model with 256 GB of memory.
The S26 has a 6.3-inch screen and a 4,300 mAh battery, while the S26+ takes those specs to 6.7 inches and 4,900 mAh.They start at 999 and 1,249 euros respectively.
Galaxy Buds4 and Galaxy Buds4 Pro headphones will have a retail price of 179 euros and 249 euros.
