Check Out the Galaxy S26 Ultra's Sleek Design and Privacy Display

Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra is the thinnest and lightest Ultra yet, measuring 7.9mm and 214 grams. It's an incremental slim-down compared to the S25 Ultra, which clocked in at 8.2mm and 218 grams. But the difference is noticeable in my hands.

The S26 Ultra is available for preorder now and will be available on March 11.

An aluminum frame helps to keep the S26 Ultra fairly lightweight.

The S26 Ultra's camera specs are similar to last year. There's a 200-megapixel wide-angle, 50-megapixel ultrawide-angle, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto and 50-megapixel 5x telephoto lens on the back, as well as a 12-megapixel selfie camera. Image improvements largely come in the form of software and AI updates.

Larger apertures on both the wide-angle and telephoto lenses allow the S26 Ultra to capture more light, resulting in clearer photos with more detail, even in dimmer settings. 

Like last year's phone, the S26 Ultra's back is Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The cover screen is made of Corning's Gorilla Armor 2.

Samsung added more Galaxy AI features to the S26 Ultra, including Call Screening. This feature answers calls from unknown numbers to identify who's on the line and why, then summarizes that information and gives you the option to pick up. Scam Detection alerts you in real time if the person seems suspicious and it warns you not to share any sensitive information.

Photo Assist is a baked-in Gallery feature that lets you alter anything in a photo using natural-language voice prompts. And Now Nudge serves up real-time suggestions and information based on what's on your screen. If someone texts you asking for pictures from your San Francisco trip, for instance, a prompt with relevant photos from your Gallery will appear, so you don't have to dig for them yourself. 

The S Pen lives on.

Privacy Display is a hardware feature on the S26 Ultra that prevents others from seeing what's on your screen. Unlike the more affordable screen protectors you can buy online, you can customize Privacy Display to work just for certain apps, or only for pop-up notifications. It also works whether you're holding the phone vertically or horizontally. 

Enable Privacy Display via the Quick Settings panel.

You can customize how and where Privacy Display works on your S26 Ultra. 

Despite the slimmer build, the S26 Ultra packs the same 5,000-mAh battery as last year. There's faster 60-watt wired charging, as well as 25-watt wireless charging. 

Android 16 is on board, as well as One UI 8.5. 

The S26 Ultra's Privacy Display is one of its standout features. Scroll and type away without worrying about any nosy onlookers.