Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra long term review: win-win
Reliable and consistent. Those are the words that come to my mind each time I pick up the Galaxy S26 Ultra and go about my day. Safe in the knowledge that the phone will deliver on whatever I ask of it, it’s a good feeling to have.
Now I don’t mean to brag, but thanks to the perks of my job, I could (theoretically) pick up any phone I want and use it as my daily driver till the time it’s returned. And I do like trying new ones, as and when timelines and logistics permit. However, I keep coming back to the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and get that same feeling all over again.
Table of Contents
Let’s talk design first, then look at that display
I do think Samsung should consider a slightly smaller chassis for the next iteration, as the S26 Ultra is a fairly large device. While it’s a bit lighter and more rounded than its predecessors, I think a slightly smaller, easier-to-pocket design could work. However, it might be tough to balance screen real estate with a more compact design, as one of the mainstays of this device is the S Pen, which is happy playing on large screens. I’ll have more to say on the S Pen later, but while I’m on the subject of design and build, the solid construction and IP rating have proven their worth a few times in my usage. The phone has survived a few falls and liquid spills, and since it’s no longer new, I’m not really handling it with kid gloves anymore. Not that you’d be able to see any signs of rough usage – it still looks new.
And that display deserves a write-up of its own – it’s so good. So good in fact, that after getting used to its brilliance, I find displays of most other phones a tad washed out in terms of colours and output. But the real feather in its cap is the Privacy Display feature – something that I’ve also gotten accustomed to during my months of usage. So much so that during the periods the S26 Ultra is hibernating in my desk drawer as I try out or review another device, I tend to forget I shouldn’t be checking my bank app while commuting on the metro. That’s the kind of safety net Privacy Display is able to provide… and the advantage far outweighs the minor niggles with the viewing angles getting restricted when this feature is enabled.
Photography? Sure, that’s taken care of
On the camera front, the consistency comes to the fore yet again. Not that I’m saying it’s the best camera phone out there. It most likely is, and there might still be a few scenarios where others could fare better, but putting my reviewer hat aside and wearing the user hat instead, it’s the consistency of the results that matters. From serving as the primary shooter at events like MWC to shooting product pics for reviews, capturing memories at family vacations, to shooting sharp videos of my daughter’s onstage dance performance from a seat located at the back of the audience, the S26 Ultra has been a capable companion.
What about AI and other features?
Companionship is one thing, but it’s also happy to take on an assistant’s role when needed. And what a capable assistant it has proven to be, thanks to Galaxy AI, which keeps upskilling itself periodically. Transcribing audio recordings of interactions with brand executives and cleaning them up to make them ready to be used in articles, getting rid of unsightly things from photos, and removing background noise from videos. Now Brief is another feature I find useful — providing handy info throughout the day.
Walking into meetings doesn’t need much prep at my end, thanks to the S Pen, which converts the S26 Ultra into a jotting pad. Most meeting rooms, including the ones in my office, have TVs with long HDMI cables, and I carry a Type-C to HDMI adapter in my bag just in case I have to call upon DeX and share some data or content on the big screen for others to see. These are practical features that come in handy on a day-to-day basis, and since I’ve started taking them for granted, I sometimes end up regretting not having the S26 Ultra with me when I’m reviewing and daily-driving other smartphones. The S26 Ultra’s size doesn’t bode well for using it as a secondary phone, I must add.
Staying in Samsung’s ecosystem does work rather well with the Galaxy Watch Ultra on my wrist and the Galaxy Book6 Ultra on my desk. The brand’s ecosystem play is quite strong and rewards users who choose to stay within it, compounding the benefits as one adds more devices to the mix. The Galaxy Watch Ultra and the Watch8 Classic, for instance, reserve their advanced health features like blood pressure monitoring and ECG only for Samsung phone users. Similarly, Samsung laptop users can make use of a ton of interconnectivity features that work with the brand’s own phones.
The basics
Performance and battery life are aspects that stop being of concern at the level the S26 Ultra plays in, but it helps that its top-of-the-line SoC is able to handle everything smoothly, while the battery lasts the day and juices up fast when I connect the charger. As a reviewer, I might want to get into technicalities here, but again, as a user, these aspects don’t matter on a day-to-day basis because I’m not thinking about them at all – the phone just delivers.
The takeaway
The point I’m trying to make is that while the Galaxy S26 Ultra might just be the most well-rounded phone out there as of now from a reviewer’s PoV, when I look at it as a user, I see a phone that works reliably and consistently. It helps that it also acts as the central hub for an ecosystem that offers a multitude of goodies to those who choose to live inside. Win-win.
