Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: Frustratingly the best Android phone

Samsung’s S26 Ultra follows the same formula as recent flagships: a thinner, lighter design, a faster processor, incremental camera improvements and new AI features. It isn’t a radical overhaul of the S25 Ultra, yet it delivers one of the strongest Android experiences available thanks to a blend of practical refinements and polish.

The phone trims weight and thickness while keeping sharp, boxy sides that make it less comfortable to hold without a case. The S Pen remains and the camera module keeps a familiar vertical layout. The standout hardware is the 6.9-inch AMOLED screen, which combines high resolution, an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and a built-in Privacy Display that limits side viewing angles and can be customized per app or notification.

Performance is smooth, driven by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy and paired with 12GB or 16GB of RAM on different storage tiers, running Android 16-based One UI 8.5 with seven years of promised updates.

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