Samsung Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra: Specs, Features, Price, Release Date

I didn't announcement a alteration successful surface quality, but determination is simply a tiny simplification successful wide brightness (it wasn't a important drop). Often with third-party privateness surface protectors, there's a melodramatic simplification successful brightness, and the surface tin sometimes look fuzzy, but Samsung's solution neatly gets astir those flaws. The benefits are instantly obvious. If you're looking astatine delicate enactment documents connected a plane, you won't person to interest astir glances from the idiosyncratic adjacent to you. Or possibly you're having a backstage speech successful a messaging app—those notifications volition beryllium overmuch much hard for idiosyncratic adjacent to you to read.

Performance, Optimized

You'll announcement each 3 Galaxy S26 phones look visually identical this year. The Ultra isn't arsenic boxy, and Samsung says this was to marque the full bid consciousness much cohesive. The cameras nary longer interval connected their ain connected the back—instead, a solid module wraps astir them. The Galaxy S26 Ultra present uses aluminum alternatively of titanium, which helps marque the telephone 4 grams lighter, and besides allows the device's colour to radiance done much consistently from the backmost to the edges.

Apple made a akin alteration from titanium to aluminum with its iPhone 17 Pro series, citing amended thermal show and a lighter smartphone. Samsung says that this is inactive the strongest mentation of its “Armor Aluminum” substance yet, and the telephone is besides the slimmest Ultra it has ever made astatine 7.9 mm (a 0.3-mm quality from its predecessor). There's besides a caller plan for the vapor enclosure cooling system, which helps dissipate vigor overmuch faster, for amended sustained show during processor-sucking tasks, similar gaming.

Speaking of performance, Samsung says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset “For Galaxy” goes further than erstwhile collaborations betwixt the institution and chipmaker Qualcomm. It's not conscionable an summation successful timepiece velocity compared to different phones utilizing the aforesaid chip, but determination are deeper customizations that heighten everything, from camera show to powerfulness management. If you privation specifics, it's a 19 percent faster CPU, 24 percent faster GPU, and 39 percent faster neural processing portion (NPU), the second of which focuses connected AI tasks.

On the artillery front, Samsung has improved charging speeds, but that's mostly it. The Galaxy S26 Ultra tin spell from zero to 75 percent successful 30 minutes, though you'll request to bargain a 60-watt charging adapter to instrumentality advantage. (Samsung, on with astir smartphone manufacturers, stopped including the powerfulness adapter successful the container respective years ago.) There are nary wired charging velocity improvements to the S26 and S26+, though the second exemplary enjoys a wireless charging velocity bump to 20 watts. The Ultra tin present besides complaint astatine 25 watts wirelessly.

Unfortunately, Samsung inactive doesn't connection built-in magnets for autochthonal Qi2 wireless charging capability. Unlike Google's Pixel 10 phones, Samsung's Galaxy S26 bid remains “Qi2 Ready," meaning you request to usage a first- oregon third-party lawsuit with a magnetic ringing for Qi2 charging speeds. Samsung is besides inactive shying distant from silicon-carbon artillery exertion that packs denser batteries without making the telephone thicker, contempt wide usage by its Chinese competitors. The OnePlus 15, for example, has a monolithic 7,300-mAh artillery compartment that lasts 2 afloat days of use, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra inactive taps retired astatine 5,000 mAh.