Samsung Galaxy S26 is here: luxury cell phone with “Spechtler protection”

The “Unpacked“-Event for the new “Galaxy S26” did not take place in the Korean company’s home country, but in the US tech metropolis of San Francisco on the edge of Silicon Valley – and close to its main competitor Apple. The KURIER was there and was able to try out the new devices.

Galaxy S26 Ultra

The new smartphone series is coming as usual three versions: the luxury model “Galaxy S26 Ultra” with 6.9-inch display as well as the regular variants “S26” (6.3-inch display) and “S26+” (6.7-inch display). The Ultra model is the most expensive (see right) and the direct development of the “Galaxy Note” series, which no longer exists in this form today. What remains of it, however, is the small pen (“S Pen”), which is included again in the S26 Ultra.

The Ultra has 164 x 78 mm impressive dimensions: You need big hands to hold it securely. The workmanship is of typical Samsung high quality. The company also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to hardware. Inside is the high-performance “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5” chip. A total of four cameras are intended to ensure attractive photos, and artificial intelligence also provides a helping hand. This not only enables recordings with a particularly good zoom: it also allows images to be edited afterwards by entering text.

The battery of the Galaxy S26 Ultra is not larger compared to its predecessors, but it can do so significantly loaded faster become. Samsung promises a battery level of 80 percent again after just 30 minutes if it was completely empty beforehand.

Privacy

A significant innovation is the “Privacy DisplayAt the touch of a button, the visibility of the screen can be limited from side angles in order to block views from strangers (for example in the subway or in the doctor’s waiting room).

The feature can be configured to work only in sensitive moments applies, for example when opening certain apps or displaying notifications. When we tried it out, the privacy protection worked well: If you look at the display from the side, it suddenly becomes so dark that you can no longer see anything. However, you should only activate it for those apps where it makes sense (for example banking or private chats), because it darkens the display noticeably for the owner.

Cheaper

While the Ultra model is the star and also the best-selling variant the Galaxy S series, there are cheaper versions for everyone who wants to save something. The standard Galaxy S26 model is also significantly more compact at 150 x 72 mm. The Galaxy S26+ is a cheaper version for those who like a larger display. However, this version is not quite as huge as the Ultra at 158 ​​x 76 mm.

In contrast to the Ultra, you have to do without the pen in the other models. In addition, the cameras are not quite as powerful. This will be particularly noticeable if you want to zoom in on subjects.

All new Samsung phones come with a range of AI features. “Now Nudge” is intended to analyze things like call and message history to automatically suggest contextual answers. Forms should also be filled out independently and specific photos can be found without a long search.

There is a slightly more detailed short test on the KURIER futurezone: Samsung Galaxy S26 in the short test: 3 things that caught my eye