How Samsung’s Latest Ultra Flagship Party Trick Protect You From Prying Eyes

Ever had to awkwardly hide your screen in public while checking bank details or private photos? We’ve all been there.

In a market where hardware development seem to have reached its peak, manufacturers are forced to innovate on features t0 distinguish their star pupil from the competitors. We are almost at the limit when it comes to how light or thin a smartphone can be. You can only squeeze so many megapixels into your phone camera until it encroaches professional camera category. How much mAh can one cram into a phone battery before it is deemed as a flight risk?

With these in mind, Samsung’s main party trick in their soon-t0-be-released flagship emphasises on personal info security without social awkwardness. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is even thinner than the model it is replacing and we lament on their decision to revert back to using Armor Aluminum frame from the Titanium Alloy which we loved in the S25 Ultra. However, all of these changes are quickly confined to the background once we tried out the new Privacy Screen feature.

Initially sounding like a load of mumbo jumbo marketing speak when presented by the Samsung folks at the recent closed media event, we can confidently claim that this is THE FEATURE that most, if not all of Samsung’s competitors are set to copy in the near future. The premise is so simple yet the execution is brilliant and can only get better with further iterations.

Of course detractors can always retort with ‘just slap on a third-party screen protector’ and they are not entirely wrong. But what separates this cool feature which is sadly for now, an S26 Ultra exclusive, is that it is a hardware-level execution that can be customised and tailored to your usage habits.

You can toggle this feature via Settings or specify when it kicks. When viewed directly, the screen appears normal albeit slightly dimmed by a few notches. But upon shifting your viewing angles to either side or up and down, the screen dims and eventually fades to black. Coupled with the anti-reflective coating feature which was initially introduced on the S24 Ultra  cements the S26 Ultra as the standard bearer when it comes to phone screens.

As per usual, the S26 Ultra does come with changes across the board when compared to last year’s model; all of which will be delved into in our comprehensive review once we have the device in hand.

At the recent Galaxy Unpacked event on the 26th of February 2026, Samsung also unveiled two other models in their S26 family; the base S26 and the S26+. It has to be said early on, that only the Ultra comes with the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 chip while the rest are powered by Exynos 2600. All models comes with 12GB memory but the Ultra gets a 16GB variant. Storage-wise, only the base model gets a 128GB storage and the Ultra getting a 1TB option.

Not much changed in battery capacity with the Ultra retaining its 5000mAh, followed by 4900mAh and 4300mAh for the base and Plus models respectively. However, charging speeds has been improved across the board with the Ultra now boasting a 60W charging, allowing it to juice up to 75% capacity from 2o minutes of being plugged in.

Price-wise, the S26 models are pricier than last year’s models with the Ultra models showing least increments. (in brackets)

• S26 512GB – RM5199 (RM4599)
• S26+ 512 GB – RM6199 (RM5599)
• S26 Ultra 512GB – RM6799 (RM6599)
• S26 Ultra 1TB-  RM7999 (RM7799)

This year’s models also marks Samsung’s first in standardising the looks and available colors for all S-tier devices. All of the models appear to share similar DNA and aesthetics and will be available in four main colors; Cobalt violet, white, black and sky blue. As usual, special online-only colors are also available; in pink gold and silver shadow. All are kind of muted for our taste but if we were to pick, the cobalt violet is the standout.

You can score some exclusive deals right now including instant memory upgrade, rebates and instalment plans at the Samsung official website.

Also revealed at the Unpacked event were the new line of Samsung Buds; the 4 and its Pro variant. Reviews and our honest thoughts on these also coming up soon so stay tuned.