Should you upgrade to Samsung's new behemoth?

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a massive, feature-rich smartphone, with a new safety feature. But are the S26's upgrades enough?

- Tushar Kanwar

The Ultra in Samsung's Galaxy series has long made the leap from impressive to excessive, with massive displays, an arsenal of cameras, more power than most of us know what to do with, and more AI features than you can shake an S-Pen at! The Galaxy S26 Ultra (from 1,39,999) looks to refine that formula, packing in faster charging speeds, the latest silicon and some world first display tech under the altogether too subtle design changes. Oh, and Al agents, of course! But is it enough for the S26 Ultra to sit at the top of the Android food chain?

Last year’s S25 Ultra already had one of the best phone screens in the business, and this year’s Ultra has the same 6.9-inch, 3120x144-pixel resolution OLED panel, but with a flex so clever, I could totally see the competition coping their playbook. It’s called Privacy Display, and it’s an ingenious hardware and software solution to keep shoulder surfers - folks who sneak a peek of your phone in public - at bay. Turn the feature on and look at the phone less than head on, and the screen goes very faint, almost fading to black if you're sitting next to the person on a public commute.