---
title: 'Samsung Galaxy S26 vs S26+ vs S26 Ultra (Don''t Waste $400)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=mI46B_AFRPM'
video_id: 'mI46B_AFRPM'
date: 2026-08-06
duration_sec: 978
---

# Samsung Galaxy S26 vs S26+ vs S26 Ultra (Don't Waste $400)

> Source: [Samsung Galaxy S26 vs S26+ vs S26 Ultra (Don't Waste $400)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=mI46B_AFRPM)

## Summary

This video compares the Samsung Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra after three weeks of side-by-side testing, focusing on display, cameras, performance, battery, and price to help viewers decide whether the $400 premium for the Ultra is worth it.

### Key Points

- **Display sizes and resolutions** [00:43] — S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch display, S26+ has 6.7-inch, and S26 has 6.3-inch. Ultra and Plus have Quad HD+ resolution, base model is Full HD. Samsung ships Plus and Ultra at lower resolution by default for battery life.
- **Anti-reflective and privacy display** [02:21] — Ultra has an anti-reflective display and a privacy screen feature that blocks off-axis viewing, which can be enabled for specific apps like notifications or PIN entry. This is exclusive to the Ultra.
- **Connectivity differences** [04:23] — Base model has Bluetooth 5.4, Plus and Ultra have Bluetooth 6.0. Ultra-wideband is now on all models. All use aluminum bodies this year, not titanium.
- **Camera hardware differences** [05:12] — Ultra has a larger telephoto sensor with a new lens arrangement, causing a thicker camera bump. Base and Plus have identical cameras: primary, ultra-wide, and 3x zoom.
- **Camera performance in daylight** [06:18] — In good light, differences are subtle. Ultra has a larger aperture and more bokeh. At 5x zoom, Ultra is significantly better for portraits. At 10x and 30x, Ultra preserves more detail.
- **Video and horizon lock** [09:26] — All models support horizon lock for stabilized 360-degree video. Video quality is similar in daylight; Ultra performs better in low light.
- **Internals and performance** [11:01] — All have Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy (US). Base model lacks millimeter-wave 5G. All have 12GB RAM and 256/512GB storage; Ultra offers 1TB with 16GB RAM.
- **Battery and charging** [12:21] — Battery capacities: 5000mAh (Ultra), 4900mAh (Plus), 4300mAh (base). In video playback test, battery life was similar. Charging: 25W (base), 45W (Plus), 60W (Ultra) wired; wireless 15W/20W/25W.
- **Pricing and value** [13:53] — Base model $899, Plus $1099, Ultra more expensive. Base model got a $100 price increase but includes more storage and ultra-wideband. Plus feels unchanged. Ultra is best for cameras and privacy display.

### Conclusion

The base S26 is a great value for most users, the Plus is a middle ground with few upgrades, and the Ultra is worth the premium for camera enthusiasts and those who love the privacy display.

## Transcript

really blurred the lines between these models, making it tough to choose the right one. They all have the same processor, the same RAM, the same storage, and mostly the same features, but the base model is $400 cheaper and
has been majorly upgraded this year. So, should you save your money and still get form, or do you want to ball out and get the S26 Ultra with that new privacy screen and the huge camera array on the back? Well, after testing all three of
these phones side by side extensively for the past 3 weeks, I wanted to unpack differences actually were. And trust me, the differences are not all obvious. There are some situations where the cheaper model is actually better. So,
difference being the display. This display size, of course, is going to be the huge one where the S26 Ultra is a 6.9-in display. The S26 Plus is 6.7 in, which is not that far behind. The S26 is 6.3 in, which I'm sad that 6.3 in is now
considered a small phone. It's narrow, for sure, but and it does feel a lot ones, but I wish it was 6.1 in. Still, nonetheless, it's nice, it's hand because it is a more compact phone, which means if you have smaller pockets,
like I said, you're still packing all the same power as the other phones just in a smaller form factor that's a lot lighter. That said, I've really gotten used to the S26 Ultra. I think any phone that you use for at least 2 weeks,
it's not really going to seem like a gigantic phone except when you first switch to it. As far as the display quality goes, the S26 Ultra and the Plus both have Quad HD Plus, so a higher resolution display, whereas the S26 base
model is Full HD, basically 1080p. And before you decide just based on that, Samsung doesn't even really think it's that important, in my opinion. So, the reason I say that is because the S26 Plus and Ultra actually don't even have
Quad HD enabled when you get it out of the box. It's a lower resolution because resolution. I think Samsung does that knowing the power users going to go in, the pixel peepers will increase that resolution, but most people will just
leave it at 1080p and get a longer battery life. Also, technically, the S26 Plus has a better pixel density, being a slightly smaller display and the same resolution as the Ultra. The Ultra does have the anti-reflective display, and
see the difference is more subtle than it was last year. Last year, the S25 Ultra had a more anti-reflective display than this year. This one's a little shinier, but still, it's a it's a nice
feature of the Ultra. The Ultra, though, the biggest feature, of course, is that could just slap on a privacy screen protector on any one of these, but this feature has some pretty major benefits only on the Ultra. The other phones
don't even have this feature. And that is essentially, you can have it only personally do. You can have it only show up during pins or password when you're authentication codes. It can show up only for that, or it could only show up
for notifications or some combination of those. So, I don't leave this enabled things that actually need to be hidden from other people, which there's no anything like that right now. I think it is so impressive. Additionally, the
screen protectors you get usually only work in one dimension, so if you rotate your phone, it'll work, but if you tilt it up and down, it doesn't work. Whereas, the privacy display blocks it any off-axis other than looking straight
on. So, a little bit more private than a lot of those screen protectors. All three of these phones are the same max brightness, 2,600 nits, although if you have privacy screen enabled on the Ultra, it's going to be more washed out,
less bright. You're just not using the same full display capability. They all have the same refresh rate from 1 all the way up to 120 Hz, very fast and very these, they're quite thin, a lot of the same design language, no significant
around the phones, like Samsung really made them all match this year. So, the Ultra as like a very distinct different phone. They have really, really similar design language, just the addition of two extra lenses or little
bumps right there. We'll talk about those later on the Ultra. Samsung did model, though, and this is one that you won't see unless you really dig into the spec sheets. And the base model only goes up to Bluetooth 5.4, while the
others have Bluetooth 6.0. So, most people probably won't really notice a difference, but if you're thinking about this is a long-term phone, maybe in 4 or 5 years, a lot of headphones might be getting a lot of better features with
Bluetooth 6.0. Something that Samsung used to hold back in the base model, but no longer does is ultra-wideband, which means if you have a Samsung Galaxy Tag or something else that you want to use precision locating, you can do that now
with the base model as well as the other models. And something Samsung used to set aside for the Ultra was a titanium body, but this year, it's aluminum. So, the entire lineup is using the same exact materials. And something that is
actually a bit better on the base model and the Plus compared to the Ultra is the thickness of it. So, the Ultra now is a lot thicker. The camera bump sticks they changed the telephoto lens. You have a bigger sensor now, which is
later, but they shifted kind of the order of things. So, it used to like the light would go in, hit a prism, then sideways go through a lens and hit the sensor. Now, they moved the lens. The lens is now in front of the prism, which
further. You don't have a really wide module there, but it sticks out further, which means, especially because you have an S Pen on the Ultra, you're going to get a lot of wobble with this. I have a case on here, which does help, but even
bit just because that does stick out so far and it's all the way shifted over to one side. I mean, I kind of breezed over one thing there, but another benefit, obviously, of the Ultra is that S Pen. The S Pen this year is moved over to the
side. I'm not really a big fan of where it is. I feel like I actually bump that all the time and have my S Pen barely sticking out, but still, S Pen, huge model or the Plus. Great if you want to draw, handwritten notes, sign documents
is what I do quite often with that. It's just a nice feature to have. So, taking a look at some photos, this right here is one I captured on the Ultra in Norway. It did an absolutely incredible job there, but I want to compare this
specifically to the S26. I'll show those two photos side by side, mainly because the 26 base model and the Plus have the same exact cameras. So, just to save how screen, we're going to do the base model and the Ultra. Starting off with the
enough light, it's hard to see the differences initially, but if you look closely, you'll see the Ultra has a much larger aperture and therefore more of a and more of a narrow focal plane. As you can see in these plants right here, same
on them. In broad daylight, you won't notice much of a difference except on the things in the background. Here, you can see this very yellow forsythia looks you get close enough to the subject, you are able to get that blurry background
on the S26 just fine, but you do have to get very close to achieve that, and even then, it's not at the same level as the Ultra. Cropping into 2x, we start to see sensor for the Ultra. And again, that blurry background, looking at the trees
way off in the distance here, but the biggest difference has to be when you zoom in to 5x. This one is just not even close. If you're trying to take kind of portraity shots of either a person or an object, and like me, I personally love
using the 5x zoom for this because you get basically no distortion, every all and you get that separation from the background, specifically with the Ultra. Whereas, the base model, keep in mind, this only has a primary lens, an
ultra-wide, and like 3x zoom, but you really get none of that separation from the background on that lamp post on the left versus the right. It's the kind of thing that, yeah, could use a portrait mode and kind of achieve that? Yes, but
opinion, on the Ultra. But if you're not taking photos of things close up and they're just far away, yeah, I mean, this is pretty much indistinguishable. I difference there. Until you get into 10x, and then you'll see significantly
more detail preserved in the Ultra compared to the base model here, that kind of weird glow around the branches. Same thing here, although I have to really give it to it, the S26 did the best job I could ask it to for the
sensor to really upscale this and make it look as good as it possibly could despite not having that many details there. And when we zoom into 30x, it's just no contest here. The Ultra clearly has so many more details. Just look at
the tire, for example. It shows no treads on the S26, kind of a an AI-enhanced kind of a look to it on the S26 versus a more natural photo on the Ultra. And if you zoom into the max zoom, it maxes out at 30x on the S26 and
100x on the Ultra. You'll really never use either one at max zoom, but just for reference, if you crop in on the, you know, to 100x, essentially, on both of you get on the Ultra. We also, of course, have the ultra-wide lens on both
of them. And this one in broad daylight, I personally really don't see much of a difference at all. Similar color science, similar distortion, similar pretty much everything looks almost identical to me between these. The
larger sensor on the Ultra also does a better job in low light, but like I kind that much about the the blurry backgrounds and you really don't care about the more peripheral use cases like low light or zooming way in, then, yeah,
two can be indistinguishable. They have a really similar color science. Then, of course, we have the video. These both have the impressive new feature, which is horizon lock. As you can see right here on the base model S26, you're able
to move it around, and it's still able to do you can do a full 360 on this, and it still has that horizon lock even though it has a smaller sensor than the S26 Ultra. And the videos are really going to be a
similar story as we saw with the photos, where you're going to get more natural get better low light performance and things like that, but in broad daylight, probably won't be much of a difference in terms of colors between the two of
can leave a comment and let me know which one you think looks better, but I don't really think it's a massive, massive difference between them, or at factor for me personally between these phones. Concluding that right there, the
cameras on the base and the Plus are undeniably inferior cameras. The you taking photos though? Is it going to be in bright light and easy situations, do an excellent job. But you'll find the limits of these inferior camera sensors
fairly quickly. Zooming in, portraits, blurry backgrounds, low light. I mean, going to be best for cameras, but not everyone needs to have the best photos are like, "Yeah, you know what? I just take the photos of thing like my family
to look at them later. I'm not printing them out, I'm not blowing them up or with the quality you're getting on the base model and the Plus, and in that case, the cameras are all really impressive. As far as the internals go,
they're really similar across the board. They all have the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy in the US, it's not not globally, unfortunately, not this year. Um but again, very powerful processor and the same on the entire lineup. The
base model, kind of a subtle difference here, when it comes to 5G, if you really care about like the fastest speeds, it only has sub-6 5G, not millimeter wave 5G. You can look up the difference in that, see what your carrier has, uh but
the other two models have both bands of 5G. All have 12 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of storage or 512 gigs of storage, so that option to upgrade when you're exclusive links down below. Uh Samsung
links, so uh usually it's like an enhanced trading credit, sometimes free storage upgrades, sometimes like just an extra couple dollars towards below, they save you money, they help to support the channel. I appreciate it. Um
these, just at least check it out through that link before buying somewhere else. But again, talking about the storage, the Ultra has one extra tier. You can go up to the 1 TB model, which also has 16 GB of RAM. It's
significantly more expensive. I don't personally do that whenever I'm buying phones, but some of like the real power users that need that extra storage, that extra RAM, and if money's no option, yeah, absolutely go for it. As far as
interesting, because you have bigger this trade-off here. It's going to really depend on how you're using these phones. I did some battery testing, and first of all, the battery capacities on
so they're all the same battery chemistry. You've got 5,000 mA hours on the biggest one, on the Ultra that is, 4,900 on the Plus, and 4,300 mA hours on the base model. What does it actually translate to? Well, I did a battery test
of just playing videos on here, max brightness, max resolution, uh volume was off on all of them, and I had basically the same battery life on all of them. The base model was just barely losing to the others, like it was
always like 1% lower than the others, but really not a huge difference there. that's much more computationally intense, maybe uh exporting videos, or you know, gaming or something like that, something that's really using that chip
a lot harder, then you can imagine they have the same chip on all of them. So, the chip, the bigger battery is going to last longer, and the Ultra is probably going to pull ahead there. But again, it's really going to be a spectrum
imagine different battery tests could give you wildly different results on all thumb, they're going to be a similar enough battery life. The charging though is going to be different. You've got 25 W wired charging on the base model, 45
on the Plus, and 60 W, which was an upgraded charging on the Ultra this year. And the wireless charging is also a really similar spectrum, 15 W on the base model, 20 W on the Plus, and 25 W on the Ultra. As far as price goes on
these, like I said, a pretty big spectrum there. $899 on the base model, It's not cheap though, like Samsung definitely upgraded a lot of things here, more storage compared to last year, you've got the ultra-wide band
that Samsung added to the base model that kind of justified the $100 price increase. I'm not really happy, I wish it was still $799, but nonetheless, I think Samsung at least changed enough on
here that okay, they boosted the price. The Plus then, honestly, I'm $1,099 and feels mostly unchanged from last year. It doesn't really have any major upgrades compared to the 25 Plus, and
like the middle model. I thought this was the one that most people should get, and this year I just don't know if that's the same. And the Ultra then is among this class of phones, this is fairly expensive. But all three of these
phones have the same software, the same features, all three of them support DeX, they all have 7 years of updates, and if cameras are not a priority for you, get won't notice the resolution difference in the display, and the smaller, more
compact phone is more pocketable, easier to use with one hand, and personally, I've always been a huge fan of the best tech in the smallest phone. The real setback on this one is going to be the lack of a good periscope lens that lets
you zoom in really far. Also, the main sensor, although it's good, doesn't have that huge sensor size, this the big aperture that we see on the S26 Ultra that gives you more bokeh and better low light performance. But the computation
makes up for it quite well. The S26 Plus, like I said, to me is mostly unchanged besides the price increase. And the Ultra, without a doubt, is going no object, specifically because that privacy display is just so cool. I love
how that that's just a really breakthrough feature in my opinion. And cameras, among the best in the industry. I'm doing a head-to-head comparison between this, the iPhone, the Pixel, and the
that video, be sure to subscribe to the channel. I'm really excited for that camera comparison. I've already seen some of the photos, northern lights, landscapes. It's it's really interesting. So, I'll see you guys in
which of these you like best, and again, if you want to pre-order or order, video, I'll have a link in the description, could save you a couple bucks and support the channel. All right. See you later.