Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Biggest rumored upgrades

With December fast approaching, there aren’t many more big tech releases expected for 2025. That means it’s time to start focusing on 2026, and Samsung is likely to be one of the first out the gate with the Galaxy S26 series.

There are expected to be three handsets — or perhaps four if the Galaxy S26 Edge isn’t cancelled and arrives alongside its siblings this time around — and top of the tree will be the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, with a price tag to match.

Just how much better will it be than Samsung’s current flagship, the Galaxy S25 Ultra? Here’s what we know so far.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Release date and price

Let’s start with the one we know for sure. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra was released on February 7 2025, with a starting price of $1,299 for the 256GB model, rising to $1,659 if you want to quadruple that storage to 1TB.

Nine months later, and that price has come down considerably, as you might expect. You can now get one on Amazon for ‘just’ $759 if you’re happy with refurbished units.

While Samsung has announced its latest ‘S’ series phones in January or early February in recent years, reports out of Korea suggest it may be a little bit later this time around, with a Galaxy Unpacked event tipped for February 25. That would push the phone’s actual release to the first week of March, 2026.

The last two Ultras have started at $1,299 — a $100 price increase on the year before. While some think we’ll see a price hike, we’re hopeful that Samsung will maintain this for another year to remain competitive with the $1,199 iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Design and screen

As with recent previous ‘S’ releases, it sounds like Samsung will be looking at subtle design shifts, rather than wholesale change in 2026. We’re expecting the same 6.9-inch, 120Hz, 3,120 x 1,440 display on the S26 Ultra as on the S25 Ultra, ensuring that this remains best suited to those with large hands.

The leaker Ice Universe claims that the phone will be getting thinner, measuring somewhere between 7 and 8mm thick, compared to the 8.1mm thickness of the current model. This, the leaker claims, will be accompanied by “slightly increased width and height”. He later listed actual measurements: 6.44 x 3.07 x 0.31 inches, compared to 6.41 x 3.06 x 0.32 inches on the S25 Ultra.

Concerningly for fans of the S Pen, the leaker PandaFlashPro claimed that this added thinness will come thanks to removing the stylus’ digitizer. If true — and the leaker later claimed Samsung was dissatisfied with test results — that could spell the end of advanced functions like pressure sensitivity and hover functions.

Renders from Smartprix suggest the phone will be a little less angular and a little more curved, while an advert shared by the leaker Tarun Vats on X seems to show a considerably more raised rear camera array.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Performance

According to Samsung’s own executives, the Galaxy S26 series’ biggest improvements will come in raw performance, AI and the cameras.

These improvements will largely fall on the figurative shoulders of Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, which should give a big boost over the Snapdragon 8 Elite in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

We benchmarked a reference device, and found it achieved Geekbench scores of 3,832 in single-core tests and 12,208 for the multi-core equivalent. That’s a solid improvement over the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s totals of 3,031 and 9,829.

Graphically, it’s a similar story. Qualcomm’s reference device managed 55.31 fps in the intensive 3DMark Solar Bay test, while the Galaxy S25 Ultra ‘only’ got 42.36fps. For further reference, the iPhone 17 Pro Max reached 46.63fps.

These scores are impressive, and they could be even better if Samsung announces a special “for Galaxy” version of the chip with a slightly higher clockspeed, as has happened in recent generations.

On the other hand, this reference device did have 24GB RAM, which the Galaxy S26 Ultra certainly won’t match. There’s some talk of Samsung upping things to 16GB, but the leaker Ice Universe thinks that won’t be the case, with 12GB remaining the norm in most regions, with a possible 16GB, 1TB version available in “more demanding” countries, such as China.

There may be good news on the battery front, however. While some believe Samsung will stick with 5,000mAh for another year, others think this will be upped to 5,400mAh for the S26 Ultra.

It should charge faster, too. Code from One UI 8.5 shows charging speeds are set to hit 60W with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra — that’s 15W faster than the 45W charging seen on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Wireless charging could reach 25W, too — a big improvement on the 15W wireless speeds the Galaxy S25 Ultra currently has.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Cameras

The biggest rumored upgrade for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra over the S25 Ultra is now in doubt. Ice Universe once hinted that Samsung might be resurrecting the variable rate aperture for the new flagship device — something the company hasn’t had in its flagship phones since the Galaxy S10 in 2018.

But in August, the leaker said that the main camera will actually use an f/1.4 aperture with the same 200MP sensor as its predecessor. That wider aperture should let in 47% more light, however, enhancing low-light photography.

Ice Universe also believes that the 50MP telephoto sensor is also set to be the same as last year’s model — and may be used in the Galaxy S27 Ultra too.

But the 3x telephoto lens will apparently get an upgrade in 2026. FlashPandaPro suggests that the 10MP lens on the S25 Ultra will be replaced with a 12MP snapper for the S26 Ultra. The leaker also mentions a new laser AF sensor for faster processing speeds and next-gen ProVisual Engine for speedier image processing.

While these changes sound minor taken individually, they could add up to something greater than the sum of their parts — especially as the new Qualcomm chipset may allow for better image processing than ever before.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Outlook

It would be very surprising if the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra wasn’t one of the best phones of 2026. With a super-fast processor, speedier charging and an improved camera array, it sounds like one of the best Android phones will be getting even better.

But there’s no denying that the suggested improvements are incremental rather than revolutionary, and with the expected high price of entry, it’s unlikely that Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra users will see a pressing need to upgrade right away, if at all.