Samsung admits Galaxy S26 Ultra’s screen quality is slightly hindered by Privacy Display

Ben Schoon | Mar 17 2026 - 10:05 am PT

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is a very good phone, with the new Privacy Display easily being its best new feature. However, as many have noted, it doesn’t come without an impact to the overall display quality, and Samsung is owning up to that.

Privacy Display is not a simple software feature on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, instead requiring stark differences in the actual display hardware to ensure that onlookers cannot see, or at least have a hard time looking at, your display. But, as many have noticed, the overall quality of the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s display seems just a tiny bit worse this year, and they’re not wrong.

Under a microscope, the difference can be seen clearly. Privacy Display shuts off half of the pixels when active, but there’s a noticeable difference in the actual structure of the display as compared to Galaxy S25 Ultra, as a previous report found.

Samsung has largely advertised the Privacy Display as if it has no impact on the display when it’s turned off, but the company is owning up to the fact that, yes, there is an impact. Speaking to TechRadar, Samsung explains:

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Privacy Display is designed to protect user’s privacy by providing a vivid visual experience for using the phone in normal use cases. Some variation will be seen when the phone is held at certain angles and when set to maximum brightness, however, any impact on actual usage when holding the phone should be negligible.

“Some variation” in viewing angles is certainly true, and Samsung is right that “any impact in actual usage” is “negligible” at best. The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s display is objectively not quite as good as the one found on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, but it’s still excellent, and the benefit of Privacy Display is a welcome addition in terms of functionality.

Did you pick up a Galaxy S26 Ultra? What do you think of the display?