Words: Abhay Verma
In case you didn’t know, Samsung’s Ultra series is a mix of the best of its S Series and the Note series of smartphones that were popular a few years ago. The S26 Ultra is the Korean smartphone maker’s latest flagship, and as is tradition, it’s also a showcase of Samsung’s cutting-edge technology and prowess in making the best Android smartphones. The S26 Ultra looks similar to the S25 at first glance, but packs in a lot of new technology, especially Artificial Intelligence, helping it establish itself as a significant upgrade. The phone is nice to hold and also feels light, perhaps because the frame uses aluminium now. The raised cameras mean the phone always sits tilted when placed on your desk though, unless you use a case, which looks odd.
The 6.9-inch display looks crisp and touch sensitivity is very fluid. There’s some interesting feature additions as well, like the Privacy Display. It isn’t just a gimmick, and ensures pesky co-travellers on a flight or the colleague next to you in office aren’t exactly able to view your screen. The display basically reduces the brightness of some pixels to have the screen viewable only to the person holding the phone. Video stabilisation and faster charging are some of the other features I’m liking too, but I’ll talk about those later because this time I’m keen on talking about the camera performance.
The setup hasn’t changed much but the difference in results is telling. I used the S26 Ultra extensively on my trip to Vietnam, including some wildlife photography, and the results, especially in portrait mode, are excellent. Images are crisp with sharp detailing, though colour saturation is on the higher side. Admittedly, the S26 Ultra makes light of helping you click high quality images quickly though. Low light performance is excellent too and so is the ultrawide camera, as you can see in the image below. Details are captured well and dynamic range is good too. Video quality is good, especially in 4K resolution, though at times I found that autofocus shifts focus unwantedly.
Battery performance is excellent – the 5,000mAh battery ensures this powerhouse of a smartphone goes on for more than a day, while 60W fast charging helps you juice up the phone quickly. The S26 Ultra also supports 25W wireless charging which is brilliant. Some may find it too similar to the S25 Ultra in terms of feel and performance, but spending time with it does help you notice the upgrades.
