Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: First Impressions

Last Thursday, February 26, Tekku Philippines was invited over to the first Galaxy Unpacked of the year 2026 to witness the launch of the Galaxy S26 series. Notice something? The year, the date, the series — all three depicting the same number 26.

While the date feels intentional, it’s actually a coincidence for us here in the Philippines. The original date for this year’s Unpacked is February 25 at 10 AM Pacific Time (PT) in the United States, but since we’re 16 hours ahead, the new flagship era was unveiled as if it had picked February 26 as the launch date for Filipinos.

Anyway, the Galaxy S26 series revisits the familiar camera design we first saw on the Galaxy Z Fold 5 series, with the main three cameras being housed inside a vertical pill. Just like the past iterations of the lineup, the Ultra models have additional sensors on the side: the laser auto-focus and the telephoto.

The S26 Ultra has a 200MP primary camera. The main camera is joined by two telephoto sensors (10MP and 50MP) alongside an ultra-wide sensor (50MP). It’s pretty much the same as the S25 Ultra, but the S26 Ultra leans more on the technical side of upgrades, with slight advancements on the sensor size.

While the S26 Ultra may share specifications with the S25 Ultra in terms of screen size (6.9-inch, 1440 x 3120 resolution) and the battery (5,000mAh), the S26 Ultra is 3 grams lighter than its predecessor (214 grams vs. the S25 Ultra’s 218 grams). It also has the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in a 3-nanometer process, and runs on an Android 16-based OneUI 8.5.

Aside from the minimal changes outlined above, what makes the S26 Ultra special is the addition of the Privacy Display — a first in the industry.

As the name suggests, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display feature makes your screen go private. It protects your screen from uninvited eyes. The feature is utilized through the phone’s hardware and software, controlling how pixels disperse light in the process.

Below is a demonstration of the Privacy Display when not turned on (left) and turned on (right).

According to Samsung, Privacy Display preserves a full viewing quality from all directions when off, and limits visibility for others from side-viewing angles when activated. In layman’s terms, it prevents others from taking a peek at your screen when it’s on. Only you who’s in front of your phone can see what you are doing.

What makes it great is that it can be customized. It can be adjusted to work on certain aspects of the phone, such as the notifications or an app of your choice.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is available in four color options: Cobalt Violet, White, Black, and Sky Blue, and is available in three memory configurations: 256GB (PHP 86,990), 512GB (PHP 100,990), and 1TB (PHP 121,990). Pre-orders are now open at authorized Samsung stores, and will be up in stores on March 18.