This time the competition between Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has become more interesting than before. While the new S26 Ultra comes with some improvements, the S25 Ultra still remains a strong option. The special thing is that Samsung has promised to provide software updates to both the phones for 7 years, due to which the value of the old model remains intact. In such a situation, the question is the same old, will it be right to buy a new model or would it be wise to save money on the old one.
The design of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has been made thinner and more comfortable than before. Whereas the sharp edges of S25 Ultra gave a slightly heavy feel. However, the new model has also become a little bigger. But the screen size is same in both. The camera module now protrudes more, which many users may not like. The biggest change is seen in the frame, where the S26 Ultra has Armor Aluminum 2, while the S25 Ultra has a premium titanium frame.
Both phones have a 6.9-inch LTPO OLED display, which has 120Hz refresh rate and QHD+ resolution. Both are almost equal in brightness and color quality and outdoor visibility is also excellent. But a new Privacy Display feature has been added to the S26 Ultra, which blackens the screen from the side angle. This makes it safe to use the phone in a public place. This feature is good for privacy, but when turned on, the brightness reduces significantly. If this feature is turned off, there is no big difference in the display of both the phones.
Both the phones have 5000mAh battery, but S26 Ultra has better battery backup. Especially in videos and web browsing, it gives a little more screen time. A big change is seen in the matter of charging. The S26 Ultra has 60W fast charging support, which is much faster than the 45W of the S25 Ultra. The new model gets fully charged in just 43 minutes, whereas the old phone takes about 59 minutes.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra has the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, which scores better than the S25 Ultra. An improvement of up to 15-20 percent is seen in benchmark tests. However, for general use like gaming, multitasking or running apps, both the phones perform well. Most users will not feel much difference in daily use. S26 Ultra also has a better cooling system, but in the throttling test both appear almost the same.
In terms of camera, S26 Ultra does not bring any major hardware changes. However, it has a brighter lens and slightly better processing. Both phones are almost identical in daylight photos. However, S26 Ultra gives better details in some cases. The selfie camera in S26 Ultra is wider, so that more people can come in the frame. In the video, the S26 Ultra has new features like Horizon Lock and APV codec, but overall the difference is not huge.
If you can spend a little more and want a better battery, faster charging and new features, then the Galaxy S26 Ultra is a good option. But if you want to save money, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is still a great deal.
