Samsung’s s26 ultra splits the room: half call it lazy, half call it solid
Half of Samsung’s own pollsters say the Galaxy S26 Ultra is a let-down. The other half shrug and tap “buy anyway.” That 50-50 knife edge is the clearest verdict yet on a flagship that added a privacy screen and 60 W charging yet still carries the same 5 000 mAh battery Samsung has glued inside since 2019.
The numbers that refuse to move
Look past the marketing gloss and the spec sheet yawns. The S26 Ultra keeps the 1/1.33″ 200 MP sensor, the 3× and 10× periscope combo, the 45 W ceiling—sorry, now 60 W—on a cable. Even the curve radius on the aluminium rail is identical to the S25. A $1 300 phone that recycles seven-year-old power cells is a rare insult in a year when Xiaomi and Oppo are shipping 100 W bricks in $700 frames.
Samsung’s answer is the new Privacy Angle Display: a lenticular layer that narrows the viewing cone to 30°. It works, but only if you accept a 25 % brightness penalty. Turn it on in sunlight and you’ll squint like it’s 2014 again. The feature is clever; it is also the only component on the entire board that feels 2027 instead of 2022.
Why people still hand over the cash
Trade-in cheques soften the blow. Samsung will credit up to $720 for last year’s Ultra, effectively pricing the new one at $579. Add the instant $150 accessory voucher and the deal looks rational—until you realise the resale value of the S24 Ultra collapses by the same amount the moment you click “accept”. The house always wins; the customer merely feels clever.
The processor, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 “for Galaxy”, posts the highest AnTuTU score ever seen in North America. The phone is fast, yes, but the delta over the Gen 3 is 14 %—a gap you will notice only if you compile Chrome on your commute. For the rest, TikTok opens in 1.8 s instead of 2.1 s. Progress, measurable in milliseconds.
The real problem is oxygen
Samsung’s issue is not engineering; it is oxygen. The Chinese playbook—150 W charging, 1″ sensors, satellite text—has sucked the novelty out of every incremental tweak. When the competition launches a new headline every quarter, “slightly faster” reads as “we gave up”. The S26 Ultra is a polished stone in a river of boulders; smooth, familiar, forgettable.
Even the design retreat into iPhone-ish round rails feels defensive. The reborn camera island, once flush, now juts like a half-swallowed Lego. Early units already collect pocket lint around the rim. Form no longer follows function; it follows fear.
The upshot
Samsung will still ship 20 million Ultras because distribution, marketing and carrier shelf space beat raw ambition. But the 51 % disappointment rate is a leading indicator. When your most loyal users apologise for you, the brand frays. The S26 Ultra is not a bad phone; it is the moment Samsung’s gravity becomes too heavy to escape. Next year the same battery will celebrate its eighth birthday. By then even the trade-in cheque may not be enough.