Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review

Design and hardware

While the overall appearance of the Galaxy S26 Ultra remains largely unchanged, there are a few notable upgrades and downgrades, depending on how you look at it.

Galaxy S25 Ultra vs. Galaxy S26 Ultra

Right off the bat, we see a new camera island design, although the same camera bump design was used on the Galaxy S25 Edge, so it's not new per se. All three lenses are elevated and stick out from the main body way more than before.

That creates a very annoying wobbly effect when you place the phone on a flat surface. It lifts up the bottom right corner, and the phone starts to rock when tapping on the screen. It's a small nuisance that might be fixed by using a phone case.

Galaxy S26 Ultra

Perhaps the new, taller camera bump was necessary to house all the camera hardware while Samsung makes the rest of the device even slimmer than before. On paper, going from 8.2mm down to 7.9mm doesn't sound like much, but you can definitely feel it in your hand when you pick up the phone. Of course, that could also be down to a more rounded frame shape; we can't really tell, but it's there - the S26 Ultra feels easier to wield. Interestingly enough, that's despite the fact that the new S26 Ultra is also wider and taller, despite having the same 6.9-inch display.

Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra

The corners are also more rounded now, which makes the grip more comfortable too. The sharp corners in the previous generations made the body feel bigger than it actually was.

Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra

There are changes to the build materials as well. The S26 Ultra's frame is now made of Armor aluminum 2, which is a downgrade over the titanium frame from last year. Samsung claims aluminum's elasticity helps absorb shock better. Still, since the change comes right after Apple dropped Titanium as a frame material for the iPhones, we guess the real reason is that Samsung no longer had to match the more expensive material for market competitiveness.

The front glass is still Gorilla Armor 2 coupled with DX anti-reflective coating, while the back is Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The ingress protection also remains the same - IP68, which ensures the handset is dust-tight and can withstand submersions for up to 30 minutes at 1.5m depth. This puts the S26 Ultra at a small disadvantage as most competitors from China already offer IP69.

Going around the sides, we find the usual stuff like an echo chamber opening for the top speaker, power button and volume rocker on the right and the USB-C connector at the bottom. The USB port is joined by a dual SIM card slot (one of them is disabled when using eSIM) along with the S Pen holster located near the left corner.

Galaxy S26 Ultra

No changes to the fingerprint reader. It's ultrasonic and is conveniently placed height-wise. It works very well, even with wet or dirty fingertips.

There are no surprises with the S Pen either. Same classic design, but with the wireless functionality well gone since last year.

The available color options are six across the entire Galaxy S26 lineup - Black, Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, and White, alongside two online exclusive hues - Silver and Pink Gold. We have the hero color for review here - called Cobalt Violet.

All in all, we are definitely not fans of the new camera bump design and the frame downgrade from Titanium to aluminum, but the slimmer chassis and more rounded corners have definitely improved handling overall.