Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra: Comparing price, specs, and features

How much does a phone change in a year anyway?

That’s what we’re here to find out. Samsung just launched its flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra handset at a Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco, which means it’s time to see how it compares to the Galaxy S25 Ultra from a year ago. Both phones are powerful Android devices, but one would hope that another year will give Samsung time to refine and improve the S26 Ultra.

We’ve only had a little hands-on time with the latest flagship, and we’ll have a full review soon. In the meantime, here’s how the two phones compare in terms of price, specifications and features.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: price

The new Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Credit: Chris Taylor / Mashable

This one is easy. The S25 Ultra launched at $1,299.99 last year, as did the S26 Ultra this year. Samsung hasn’t increased the price year over year, which will make this comparison easier. (The S26 and S26 plus did get a price increase though.)

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: Specs and display

Here are the basic specifications of the Galaxy S25 Ultra:

• 6.9-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 3120 x 1440 resolution

• Snapdragon 8 Elite processor for Galaxy

• 256GB/512GB/1TB storage options

• 12 GB of RAM

• 5,000 mAh battery

And here are the same specs for the Galaxy S26 Ultra for simple comparison:

• 6.9-inch AMOLED display with 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate and 3120 x 1440 resolution

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor for Galaxy

• 256/512GB/1TB storage options

• 12/16 GB of RAM

• 5,000 mAh battery

As you can see, Samsung hasn’t shaken things up with this annual update. The two phones apparently have almost exactly the same display specs, as well as the same battery sizes. That said, Samsung has made a few changes for 2026. The processor is newer and theoretically more powerful, and the 1TB storage model also comes with an increase to 16GB of RAM. This means that performance should be better on the new phone, although it remains to be seen to what extent.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: design

The back of the S25 Ultra.
Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable

Samsung hasn’t reinvented the wheel when it comes to the physical design of the S26 Ultra, but it’s not exactly the same as the S25 Ultra either.

For starters, the new phone is very slightly thinner and lighter than last year’s model. Samsung has also raised the rear camera slightly, meaning it protrudes more clearly from the profile of the phone than before. It’s not entirely clear where we stand Why Samsung did it, but it did it, so it’s worth pointing out. Finally, given our short time spent with the device, its design is overall less boxy.

Here are the colors available for the S25 Ultra:

• Titanium gray

• Titanium Silverwhite

• Titanium Silverblue

• Titanium black

• Titanium Rose Gold

• Titanium Jade Green

• Titanium Jetblack

And here are the colors of the S26 Ultra:

• Cobalt Violet

• Sky blue

• Black

• White

• Silver Shadow

• Rose gold

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: main new features

As for what’s new in the S26 Ultra, the most important answer would probably be the privacy display. This is a new feature built into the device that will dim the screen for anyone viewing it from a different angle, giving users some peace of mind when watching… whatever they’re watching in public. We don’t yet know how well this works due to a lack of direct testing, but the S25 Ultra didn’t have it, and the S26 Ultra had it.

Beyond that, the S26 Ultra brings 60 watts of fast charging. If you have a compatible charger and are tired of waiting for your phone to fill up, this is great news.

The new Privacy Display feature in action.
Credit: Amanda Yeo / Mashable

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: Cameras

Samsung’s S series phones are overdue for camera upgrades, and the S26 has the goods.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and its predecessor feature four rear cameras: 200MP wide, 50MP ultra-wide, 50MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, 10MP with 3x optical zoom. Both devices also feature a 12 MP front-facing selfie camera.

However, according to Samsung, the new Galaxy S26 Ultra features wider camera apertures, allowing more light in and resulting in clearer, more detailed photos. The company also claims that the Galaxy S26 Ultra has improved Super Steady capabilities for smoother 4K video and enhanced night video to improve output in low-light environments.

Overall, you can expect a better camera system with the S26 Ultra, which is no surprise.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: More AI features

Like the S25 Ultra, the S26 Ultra will generate a daily briefing.
Credit: Chris Taylor / Mashable

Credit: Chris Taylor / Mashable

Samsung has made some upgrades to the S26 Ultra’s AI feature set. Unsurprisingly, the S26 is billed as an “agent” phone with a unified AI experience across all your devices, and Galaxy Unpacked has focused heavily on AI. As an example, the S26 Ultra will offer AI call screening, call answering, and note-taking when you’re too busy to answer. Users can also choose between Samsung’s Bixby, Google Gemini, and Perplexity.

Additionally, the S26 Ultra has a new suite of AI image and video editing tools, called Creative Studio. A new AI image editor is also integrated directly into the camera app. Users can describe the changes they want and the AI ​​takes care of the rest.