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There's plenty to talk about with the newly-revealed Galaxy S26 Ultra, but one of the details that perhaps slipped under the radar is Samsung's backtracking on the materials used in its new flagship phone.
The S26 Ultra is built with an aluminum frame, just like the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus, but unlike the last couple of Samsung's Ultra models. 2024's Galaxy S24 Ultra, and its brand-new titanium frame, was introduced with great fanfare, something which then continued with the Galaxy S25 Ultra last year. But now this once-groundbreaking design has quietly disappeared with the S26 Ultra.
“The choice of materials in each Galaxy device reflects Samsung’s effort to balance strength, comfort and design intent. For Galaxy S26, our goal was to create the slimmest S series Ultra device yet, while still meeting the premium standards for strength and reliability users expect from a Galaxy experience. Armor Aluminum was the ideal material to support a thinner and lighter form factor without compromising Galaxy S26’s everyday durability.“
So, it's about increasing slimness and lightness, but without risking weakened durability. Aluminium, therefore, seems like a fair choice — it's roughly 40% lighter than titanium. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is indeed 4 grams (0.14 ounces) lighter and 0.3 millimetres (0.01 inches) slimmer than the Galaxy S25 Ultra it replaces. That's not a huge difference, but it is a difference.
But the elephant in the room here is that another company made the transition from titanium to aluminum on its flagship phone lat last year — a little-known brand called Apple.
After debuting the titanium-bodied iPhone 15 Pro in late 2023 (x months before the Galaxy S24 Ultra came out), and building on that design with the iPhone 16 Pro in 2024, the iPhone 17 Pro officially made the switch to aluminum in September last year, although with numerous rumors claiming as much leading up to that point. A cynical person could conclude that Samsung is just chasing Apple, although I'd hope Samsung's engineering priorities are based on more than just the question of: "What are they doing in Cupertino?"
Another potentially smart reason for Samsung to leave titanium behind is the price compared to aluminum. Given that the general smartphone parts bill is already on the rise due to RAMageddon, finding areas to save money that could otherwise be spent on the increasingly expensive RAM and storage chips.
There's also the matter of the Galaxy S25 Edge. Samsung made its slim flagship phone out of titanium, so it could keep building any future Edge models with the material as an additional unique element, assuming it wants to keep going. Plus, that would match what Apple is doing with the iPhone Air, which may or may not be an important factor to Samsung, too.
It's understandable why Samsung's materials choice has not been a major talking point of its new product announcements. The Galaxy S26 Ultra has debuted with a built-in Privacy Display that can adjust the viewing angle of your screen on command or automatically depending on what you're doing - something we've never seen on a phone before. Plus, there are new chips, photography upgrades and lots of AI features to explore too.
You can learn more about all of those in our Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra hands-on and Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus hands-on reviews, ahead of our full verdicts on these phones (coming soon). You can also refer to our Galaxy Unpacked live blog for both a recap of last night's events and fresh updates as we learn more about the new phones and the Galaxy Buds 4 series now that they're all out in the open.
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