I thought the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was a boring upgrade — then I saw Privacy Display, and it's best phone upgrade I've seen in years | Tech Radar

Overview

I thought the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was a boring upgrade — then I saw Privacy Display, and it's best phone upgrade I've seen in years

The best (and maybe only) reason to buy an S26 Ultra

Details

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Samsung has unveiled a trio of new phones at its Galaxy S26 launch event — and if you were hoping for some major hardware upgrades they're, well, a little underwhelming.

With percentage improvements to camera brightness, as well as NPU, CPU and GPU performance the Samsung Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra feel a bit like their S25 equivalents with some software tweaks, rather than something new and special.

Except, that is, for the new Privacy Display feature.

Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display shown off in official teaser and new leak

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy display could be the biggest upgrade in years – here’s how it works

I went hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra – and it has one killer feature even Apple could steal

Exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra — which is a truly disappointing limitation — this setting puts your phone case's privacy filter to shame, and helps the new handset stand out in a crowded market.

Just like the screen protectors you can already buy, Samsung's privacy display hides what's on your phone screen from onlookers while still letting you see everything. The big difference is that it’s a whole lot smarter.

Unlike standard privacy protectors, Samsung has built its privacy filter into your display at the pixel level, meaning you can switch it on or off to suit your needs. You can even control it on an app-by-app basis.

So when you’re watching You Tube and sharing a phone screen, or showing your partner a funny Reddit meme, your privacy filter can be switched off, and then when you move over to your banking app or when you need to input a password you can set it so that your Privacy Display switches on.

You can even toggle the settings so that your notification popups are private — which is something actually a bit magical to see in action, as the phone automatically obscures just a small portion of your screen.

Having seen and used the feature, it's a standout. It works brilliantly, and I can see it being the feature users of other phones will be jealous of. I already am — and I expect many people will be hoping that other brands offer something similar in both their premium handsets and more standard models when their next refreshes roll around.

How to turn on privacy display on your Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra

Privacy Display options are managed in your S26 Ultra's settings, which is where you can also set your app preferences. Using the settings search function will find you the appropriate menus and submenus.

Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display shown off in official teaser and new leak

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy display could be the biggest upgrade in years – here’s how it works

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has already been unboxed

There's even a toggle in the phone's quick settings pane — just pull down from the top-right corner of your screen and you'll see the new option.

Samsung told us the feature works by switching off wider-angle pixels, and only leaving on active pixels that are focused like spotlights to send light directly forwards.

This means you'll see slight color and brightness differences when Privacy Display is switched on, but it's not as big a change visually as you might expect.

It's not clear if switching off these pixels will help improve your phone's battery life, though Samsung explained that as the wide pixels are turned down the narrow pixels are brightened, so I expect the battery life of your phone won't change much as you switch between modes.

Will Privacy Display come to other Samsung phones?

We can't predict which future Samsung phones will get the feature, though don't expect it to roll out to older phones. While there are some software elements to Privacy Display it's fundamentally a hardware feature which requires a special display currently exclusive to the S26 Ultra.

Samsung has confirmed that it won't be possible to bring this feature to older devices, meaning you'll need to upgrade to its premium flagship if Privacy Display is a feature that excites you.

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Hamish is a Senior Staff Writer for Tech Radar and you’ll see his name appearing on articles across nearly every topic on the site from smart home deals to speaker reviews to graphics card news and everything in between. He uses his broad range of knowledge to help explain the latest gadgets and if they’re a must-buy or a fad fueled by hype. Though his specialty is writing about everything going on in the world of virtual reality and augmented reality.

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Key Takeaways

• I thought the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was a boring upgrade — then I saw Privacy Display, and it's best phone upgrade I've seen in years

• The best (and maybe only) reason to buy an S26 Ultra

• When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission

• Samsung has unveiled a trio of new phones at its Galaxy S26 launch event — and if you were hoping for some major hardware upgrades they're, well, a little underwhelming

• With percentage improvements to camera brightness, as well as NPU, CPU and GPU performance the Samsung Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra feel a bit like their S25 equivalents with some software tweaks, rather than something new and special