Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra 'Privacy Display' just got first official tease — here's how it works

Samsung just went public about a new privacy feature for its mobile devices — one that we're expecting to see on the new Galaxy S26 Ultra in just over a month's time.

Headlined as "A New Layer of Privacy," the Samsung press release notes how phones contain mountains of personal information, but that we still regularly use them in public. So, after five years of work, the company is now debuting a combined hardware/software solution to this problem.

In addition to selling this innovation's privacy, Samsung also focuses on how users can control the options to their liking. This includes setting only specific apps or notifications to engage the privacy protection features, or particular situations like entering PINs and passwords and more, with further flexibility offered by "multiple settings for adjusting visibility."

The end result, as the accompanying videos show, is a display that makes life trickier for someone attempting to read your phone over your shoulder or from the side, whether that's out of nosiness or a more severe reason. This is seemingly going to be managed without the drawbacks of third-party physical privacy screen protectors, which darken the screen and reduce its effective viewing angles.

Sounds great, but which phone's getting it?

It's not made explicit what this is for beyond it being installed onto a Galaxy device. Galaxy encompasses all of Samsung's mobile computing devices, from phones to tablets to laptops. But given we've had a lot of rumors about a privacy display feature being added to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, including a leak from within Samsung's OneUI 8.5 update, it seems close to a given that this is what Samsung is hinting at.

We've been excited to hear more about this feature, so it's good to finally see confirmation from Samsung about this unique ability. The only comparable feature on smartphones currently is one made by Huawei, which uses the facial recognition cameras on its flagship phones to alert if a second person is looking at the screen. But considering that Huawei phones are a rare sight in the West these days, and that this system acts only as a warning, Samsung may have surged ahead in the screen privacy race.

Samsung is also cryptic about when we'll see this tech in action, other than it will be "very soon." The Samsung Galaxy S26 series, including the S26 Ultra that this tech should be fitted to, is tipped for a reveal on February 25, with a retail launch in March expected to follow.

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