\n\tSamsung was an official partner of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics and the tech giant handed out Galaxy Z Flip7 Olympic Edition phones <\/a>to nearly 3,800 Olympians, in addition to Team USA stars like freestyle skier Alex Hall and team figure skating gold medalist (and \u201cQuad God\u201d) Ilia Malinin.<\/p>\n \n\tNow, Samsung has introduced the latest model in its Samsung Galaxy series, with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra<\/a>, a phone that promises the \u201cmost powerful hardware ever on a Galaxy S series,\u201d and \u201cmore agentic AI experiences,\u201d per a company release, \u201csetting the stage for Galaxy devices to become trusted companions that understand and anticipate user needs.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNEW RELEASE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tSamsung Galaxy S26 Ultra\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tRight out of the box, the new phone ups the ante with a lightning fast processor, stunning photo and video capture, and one of the most intuitive AI tools we\u2019ve tested to date. Perhaps more importantly, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is designed for how we use our phones these days, with apps and features that hit that sweet spot of work and play.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra retains the same sleek design and light weight of its predecessor, with both phones using a 6.9-inch display (the base S26 models boasts a just-slightly larger 6.3-inch display compared to the 6.2-inch screen on the\u00a0Galaxy S25). I loved the new aluminum frame, which I find more chic and minimalist than the previous titanium siding. Samsung says its so-called \u201cArmor Aluminum\u201d also offers more durability and grip, though to be honest, I would still use a case if you want to prevent the phone from slipping through your fingers.\u00a0A new custom processor \u2014 officially the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy\u00a0\u2014 offers a fast and seamless experience, whether you\u2019re scrolling apps, streaming video or switching between your camera functions to capture content.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSamsung<\/p>\n \n\tSpeaking of the camera, we appreciated the enhanced camera features on the S26 Ultra, which makes Samsung\u2019s already impressive setup even more powerful and dynamic. The new phone is built with a 50MP Ultra-Wide Camera, 200 MP Wide Camera and a 50MP Telephoto Camera with 10x optical zoom. For selfies, the phone has a 12MP Front Camera. I tested the camera out while on a trip to Barcelona and you really can\u2019t take a bad shot, thanks to its quick auto-focus and improved depth of field. Built-in AI Image Signal Processing (AI ISP) intelligently helps to reduce noise and draw out more details from every image. <\/p>\n \n\tLow-light capture is also much improved, and when we brought the photo to Barcelona\u2019s award-winning Paradiso Bar, we didn\u2019t have to do much in terms of adjusting settings to frame up our drinks for a pic (hot tip: ask the bartenders to make you their version of an ice-cold martini). Video capture, meantime, is enhanced with \u201cNightography,\u201d which automatically adjusts for dim environments to preserve vividness and quality. I also liked tapping into the Photo Assist feature, which uses Galaxy AI to do everything from removing people next to you in a photo to highlighting a particular section or action in your photo (like the bird I happened to capture flying by when I was at Park Guell). Whether you\u2019re an amateur enthusiast or professional photographer, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is packed with both easy-to-use and advanced features that will take your content to the next level.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tDetails are still pulled out in low light (at left) while Photo Assist helps to bring out a focal point in your images (at right)<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTim Chan<\/p>\n \n\tWhere the S26 Ultra really shines for me is its buzzy \u201cPrivacy Display,\u201d which lets you change how visible your screen is to others with just a tap of a button. You no longer have to purchase a separate privacy screen protector<\/a> to prevent prying eyes from looking at your stuff. When turned on, people sitting next to you won\u2019t be able to see what\u2019s on your phone \u2014 something I found useful when I was testing out the S26 Ultra on the plane.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTim Chan<\/p>\n \n\tOther helpful tools for my work include a Live Interpreter feature (with more than 20 languages available); the ability to use voice prompts with Bixby or ask for help using AI assistants Gemini and Perplexity; a digital one-pager via \u201cNow Brief\u201d to see all my news, weather and daily tasks in a single view; and the Audio Eraser, which helps to remove or reduce background noise in my voice recordings, say, from an interview on the red carpet. The Audio Eraser tool can also work on audio and video that you haven\u2019t personally recorded, and I liked playing around with the settings while watching YouTube unboxing videos for example, to bring out the main narration and bring down the often-annoying background music. Also: when it comes to streaming video on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, needless to say everything comes across crisp and clear with realistic contrasts and coloring on screen.<\/p>\n \n\tBattery life in our testing was excellent \u2014 we could go almost two full days on a single charge, with regular usage of the camera and light streaming, along with running apps like Instagram and email. A quick 30-minute charge got my phone up to around 70% battery life.<\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEDITOR-APPROVED\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tSamsung Galaxy S26 Ultra\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tThere are a few things that users might find cumbersome about the new Galaxy phone: the cameras are raised too high for the phone to lie flat on its back, meaning I always had to turn the phone over when setting it down. The 6.9-inch Ultra model I tested, meantime, is thin and lightweight, but still a little too large to completely control with one hand. I also experienced a bit of shutter lag when using the camera, though it won\u2019t be an issue for most casual users.<\/p>\n \n\tThose minor issues aside, this is the best smartphone Samsung has released to date, with the technical prowess needed to keep up with the demands of today, while introducing progressive forward-thinking features that ready users for tomorrow. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is an all-in-one device that acts as your work assistant, entertainment hub, content creation platform and cultural concierge in one.<\/p>\n \n\tThe new phone is available in six elegant and elevated colors, including the \u201cCobalt Violet\u201d we got our hands on, plus a \u201cSliver Shadow\u201d and \u201cPink Gold\u201d colorway that are available exclusively at Samsung.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,8981,45063,5023,848,61],"class_list":["post-541505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cell-phones","tag-electronics","tag-noads","tag-samsung","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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