Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: Is the AI Worth the Upgrade?

Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra arrives with a promise that artificial intelligence will fundamentally change how you use your phone. After three weeks of daily use, the answer is nuanced — some AI features are genuinely transformative, while others feel like solutions searching for problems.

Design and Build

The S26 Ultra retains the titanium frame introduced with the S24 Ultra but shaves off another 0.3mm in thickness. The flat display is a welcome continuation, and the matte back resists fingerprints better than any glass phone we have tested. At 6.9 inches, this is still a large phone, but Samsung has trimmed the bezels to the point where the screen-to-body ratio hits 94%.

The included S Pen remains a unique differentiator. Samsung has added AI-powered handwriting cleanup that converts messy scribbles into polished text in real time. It works remarkably well in English and supports 15 languages at launch.

Camera System

The 200MP main sensor now uses a stacked design that captures 30% more light than the S25 Ultra. In practical terms, this means low-light photos have less noise and more natural color. The 5x optical telephoto remains, and Samsung has added a new 3x telephoto replacing the old 3x crop from the main sensor. You now get true optical zoom at three focal lengths.

AI enters the camera through "Scene Aware Processing." The phone identifies what you are photographing — food, pets, landscapes, documents — and applies tailored processing. Food photos pop with warm tones without looking oversaturated. Pet photos lock focus on the eyes even during movement. It feels less like a filter and more like having a skilled photo editor on call.

Video gets Instant Slow Motion, which uses AI frame interpolation to create 240fps slow-motion from standard 30fps footage after the fact. The results are impressively smooth for casual use, though professional videographers will spot interpolation artifacts in fast-moving scenes.

The AI Features

Galaxy AI has matured significantly since its debut. The standout features include:

Circle to Search now identifies objects and provides shopping links, nutritional information for food, and even plant species identification. It is fast and accurate roughly 85% of the time in our testing.

Live Translate handles phone calls in 20 languages with noticeably less latency than the S25 Ultra. The dedicated NPU processes translations on-device, so it works without cellular data.

Note Assist summarizes long articles, generates action items from meeting notes, and reformats text into tables, bullets, or paragraphs. This is the feature that most justified the upgrade during our testing period.

Sketch to Image turns rough S Pen doodles into polished illustrations. It is fun but feels more like a party trick than a productivity tool.

Battery and Performance

The 5,000mAh battery consistently delivered 8-9 hours of screen-on time in our mixed-use testing. The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset handles multitasking without stutter. Pair it with a quality 45W charger and you get from 0 to 65% in 30 minutes.

Who Should Upgrade?

If you own an S24 Ultra, the improvements are incremental. If you are coming from an S23 Ultra or older, the AI features, camera improvements, and performance gains make this a compelling upgrade. For the best protection, grab a Spigen Tough Armor case — it adds minimal bulk while offering military-grade drop protection.

The Verdict

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is the most complete Android phone available. The AI features have crossed the threshold from gimmicky to genuinely useful, particularly Note Assist and Live Translate. The camera system remains best-in-class for versatility. At $1,299, it is expensive, but Samsung is offering generous trade-in deals that bring the effective price down considerably for existing Galaxy owners.

Rating: 9/10

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