Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra | Infinium-tech

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is here, and for yet another year, we get a rather modest upgrade over the previous generation. And at this point, it has become an age-old question: should you go for the newer Galaxy or the older Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra will do just fine?

With Samsung’s long software support promise of 7 years of OS upgrades and security patches, the latest generation has one fewer advantage over the older one, so even if you choose to go for the S25 Ultra, you won’t be missing out on important software upgrades.

Despite the lack of proper hardware upgrades, the Galaxy S26 Ultra does improve over its predecessors in key aspects, so let’s go check them out and help you decide whether the extra couple of hundred bucks for the S26 Ultra is worth it.

Table of Contents:

For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the following video or in the text below.

Size comparison

There are several notable design changes in the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and not all of them are welcome. Firstly, it’s thinner than the S25 Ultra, which is nice, and the corners are more rounded, making it easier to hold. The sharp corners of the previous model made the phone feel bigger than it actually is. The third change is the camera island, which now sticks out more, which is a step back in our book.

Interestingly enough, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is wider and taller than its predecessor. Not enough to feel the difference, but it’s strange given that both devices feature identical display sizes.

And last but not least, the S26 Ultra’s frame is made of Armor aluminum 2, which can be seen as a step back from the titanium frame on the S25 Ultra.

Display comparison

Both devices are fitted with a bright, 6.9-inch LTPO OLED panel with 120Hz refresh rate and QHD+ resolution. They also score similarly in our max brightness tests, easily going above 1400 nits in auto mode. Additionally, both displays feature an anti-reflective coating that helps with legibility outdoors.

The key difference is the new Privacy Display feature. You can read all about it in our dedicated Galaxy S26 Ultra review, but long story short, it makes it difficult for people to see the contents on your screen from an angle. It works exactly like those privacy screen protectors, but you can turn it off at any time.

The bad news is that maximum brightness is slashed in half when Privacy Display is active, while the good news is that it doesn’t affect the display’s performance when it’s not active. We weren’t able to find any meaningful difference between the S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra’s viewing angles, sharpness and brightness when Privacy Display is disabled.

Battery life

In theory, the Galaxy S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra should have very similar battery life, as the only thing that has changed is the chipset.

However, we are pleasantly surprised by the Galaxy S26 Ultra as it shows a notable improvement in our web browsing and video streaming battery tests. Kudos to Samsung for squeezing out a little bit more screen-on time from the same 5,000 mAh battery.

Charging speed

Charging speed has always been the Galaxy S series’ Achilles heel, but that’s no longer the case with the new Galaxy S26 Ultra. The phone is now rated to support 60W fast wired charging over Power Delivery, which is a step up from the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 45W charging.

The results from our charging tests reveal that the upgrade is far from trivial. The new Ultra outpaces its predecessor by a significant margin, and it’s now even competitive in the flagship segment. The Galaxy S Ultra is no longer a slouch when it comes to charging.

Speaker test

Although the newer Ultra’s speakers are a bit quieter, they seem to have a more balanced tuning. The S26 Ultra has more natural-sounding vocals and highs that don’t ring or squeak, while the bass doesn’t seem any different from before. We’d definitely prefer the S26 Ultra’s speakers overall, though.

Performance

As is usually the case, both Galaxies are fitted with an overclocked version of the flagship Snapdragon chipset. In the case of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it’s the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC “for Galaxy”, while the S26 Ultra upgrades that to Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 “for Galaxy”. The main cores are clocked slightly higher, as well as the GPU too.

Memory configurations are pretty much identical. All storage versions get 12GB of RAM, although the 1TB storage version this year gets 16GB of RAM instead. The base storage remains 256GB, while the middle configuration is 512GB.

Benchmark performance

Going by the synthetic benchmark tests, the Galaxy S26 Ultra outperforms the S25 Ultra, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. In the CPU-heavy Geekbench test, the S26 Ultra outpaces the S25 Ultra by about 17%, while the mixed AnTuTu 11 test shows 19% gains with the newer model. In the GPU-heavy 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test, the newer Ultra has approximately 16% advantage over its predecessor.

At the end of the day, for all intents and purposes, the two devices are high-performance phones that will handle pretty much everything you throw at them, be it games or heavy apps.

Samsung is marketing the S26 Ultra with an improved passive cooling system. We couldn’t compare it directly to the S25 Ultra, as the test didn’t run properly there. The GPU throttling test, on the other hand, shows no difference between the S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra and is par for the course.

Camera comparison

The Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn’t really bring any hardware improvements to the camera system, compared to the S25 Ultra. That’s not to say there aren’t changes, though.

The main camera is treated to a brighter aperture lens, and that’s also the case with the 5x telephoto. That long tele is also swapping the periscope out in favor of a conventional lens. The short tele, meanwhile, gets a slightly smaller sensor. The ultrawide is unchanged.

Over on the front, the selfie camera’s sensor is the same, but the lens is wider – a most welcome development and the only one that’s a meaningful upgrade.

Image quality

Daylight

Looking at main camera images at 1x first, we’re seeing no dramatic changes – there’s a slightly shallower depth of field on the new model, but that’s only evident with very close subjects.

Daylight comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

With human subjects, the S25 Ultra tends to be a bit more neutral with its facial hues – we’re more inclined to agree with the S26 Ultra’s warmer tendencies.

Human subjects comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

At 2x zoom, the S26 Ultra just might have an edge over the S25 Ultra in terms of detail in some cases, though it’s not universal – the old model would flatten detail in concrete or similar subjects, which the new one tends to preserve, but foliage is looking just about the same.

Daylight comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

There isn’t a ton of difference when photographing people – there may be a hint of warmth in the S26 Ultra’s shots, but we were seeing more of it in the 1x comparison.

Human subjects comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

On the short telephoto, things are pretty much the same, between the two, with the smaller sensor on the new generation not hurting it in any notable way.

Daylight comparison, telephoto camera (3x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

People shots from both generations at 3x look very similar with only an immaterial advantage for the S25 Ultra in background blur.

Human subjects comparison, telephoto camera (3x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

The 5x telephoto may have a new lens, but during the day, you’re unlikely to see major differences compared to the old one.

Daylight comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

Comparisons of people shots are another toss-up – there’s not enough difference between the two to be of any significance.

Human subjects comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

It’s more of the same at 10x zoom.

Daylight comparison, telephoto camera (10x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

When it comes to the ultrawides, we just might be able to spot slightly better sharpness and detail definition on the S26 Ultra, but neither phone is truly great and whatever advantage the new one might have is minimal.

Daylight comparison, ultrawide camera (0.6x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

When it comes to close-ups, however, the S26 Ultra is a major step back. The S25 Ultra is hardly the best at this either, but it’s substantially better than the new model in reproduction ratio and image quality.

Closeups comparison at 46mm/69mm/115mm: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

The meaningful differences between the two generations of Galaxies are few and far between, and the wider selfies on the new model can go on that list. Otherwise similar in their excellence, the photos from the new model allow you to fit more people in the frame or show more context around you. If you’re big on selfies, the S26 Ultra should be the better option.

Selfies comparison: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

Low light

The S26 Ultra’s Night mode implementation is different from the S25 Ultra’s. There’s no dedicated Night mode, strictly speaking, instead there’s an Auto implementation that presents itself when the phone deems it appropriate, so you can’t force it on – you can only dial it up once the phone sees the light level drop below a certain threshold.

The S25 Ultra uses a more conventional approach. It has the auto Night mode behavior in Photo mode and you could turn it off too, but it was just one ‘level’. And if the phone wouldn’t do auto Night mode, you could always launch the standalone Night mode.

We don’t particularly like either one in the way that Samsung is doing it – other makers have more straightforward implementations – always-on, so to speak.

Looking at the main cameras, the full auto mode results are roughly comparable between the S26 Ultra and the S25 Ultra – we wouldn’t say either has a distinct edge.

Low-light comparison, main camera (1x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

For what it’s worth, the new model’s Night mode rendition probably leaves a little bit more detail in, while the S25 Ultra is more prone to flattening textures and making them look plasticky.

Low-light comparison, main camera (1x), Night mode: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

We’d argue that the S26 Ultra is a little better at retaining texture at 2x than the old model, but it’s hardly a game-changing difference.

Low-light comparison, main camera (2x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

The S26 Ultra’s 3x telephoto is slightly worse at night than the S25 Ultra’s – the smaller sensor on the new model is finally showing its weakness.

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (3x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

In a head-to-head at 5x zoom, it’s more or less the same picture, though it’s actually the old model that retains some more texture in those facades. It’s mostly an exercise in hair-splitting though.

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

It’s this one particular scene that illuminated a somewhat significant development with this year’s model – the switch from a folded periscope lens to a conventional one. You’ll see the difference in rendition of the out-of-focus car headlight with the S25 Ultra showing the characteristic rough-edged rectangular blobs, next to the S26 Ultra’s round shapes. We’re not saying the S26 Ultra has the nicest bokeh there is, but it’s more like a ‘real’ camera’s lens than that of the S25 Ultra.

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (5x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

Neither generation is particularly impressive at 10x zoom at night.

Low-light comparison, telephoto camera (10x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

On the ultrawides, there’s once again not much difference between the S26 Ultra and the S25 Ultra’s results here. However, Night mode vs. Night mode, the S26 Ultra wins.

Low-light comparison, ultrawide camera (0.6x): Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

Video quality

There aren’t a lot of changes to the video recording capabilities either, though they were extensive enough in the first place that not enough can be added, really. Starting with the regular Video mode, both phones can record video up to 4K60 with all of their cameras (front-facing one included). Also available are 8K30 options at the native focal lengths of the main, ultrawide and 5x cameras. 24fps options are available in Pro video mode, as well as 4K120 for the main and ultrawide cameras.

A new addition with this year’s model is the selection of pre-loaded LUTs, but there’s no option to import your own LUT. Still better than no LUTs on the S25 Ultra. There’s also the new model’s Horizon lock stabilization and the inclusion of the pro-grade APV codec (Advanced Professional Video) that set the S26 Ultra apart from last year’s model.

Video stabilization is available in all modes on all cameras, and you can disable it in settings if you have other means of ensuring stability.

We’d be hard-pressed to spot a difference between the S26 Ultra and S25 Ultra’s daylight videos, but you can do your own staring below.

Daylight video comparison: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

In the dark, there are some subtle differences between the two generations that are still more readily observable. The 5x tele on the S26 Ultra handles bright lights better thanks to the simpler optical design, while the 3x tele is better on the old model – it’s here that the sensor size finally makes a more meaningful difference. Funnily enough, the S25 Ultra is also a tiny little bit better at 1x and 0.6x as well – insignificantly so, but you can see it if you look for it.

Low-light video comparison: Galaxy S26 Ultra • Galaxy S25 Ultra

Video stabilization is excellent on both phones on all cameras.

This year’s supposed big deal is the inclusion of a Horizon lock mode for stabilization and indeed, the S26 Ultra will shoot a mostly level video, pretty much regardless of which way you rotate it around during recording.

Verdict

At the time of writing, the two devices have about $200/€200 price gap in the US and Europe. The difference is similar in other markets as well. And when you factor in the modest upgrades this year, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is at a disadvantage.

Then again, there are a few standout features that might justify the price difference. Those are the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display, the considerably faster charging, the improved battery life and the marginally faster chipset. The thinner and more rounded design is a bonus.

Aside from some niche bits and pieces, there’s no meaningful change in the camera experience. The S25 Ultra is better at closeups, since it has a periscope telephoto camera lens, while the S26 Ultra gives you slightly wider selfies.

So at the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide whether faster charging, a tad longer battery life and Privacy Display are worth a couple of hundred bucks.