Samsung S26 Ultra Teardown: Hidden Hardware Upgrades Revealed

[00:00] Spicing things up today just because I want to,  the teardown is happening first. There are a few   things Samsung conveniently left out of their  Unpacked event when bragging about the new S26   Ultra, and these things need to be exposed to  the world. They focus so much on AI that they  

[00:17] forgot to mention the hardware improvements,  and the improvements are substantial. I have   a separate phone and will be doing the durability  test tomorrow. This one is the Sky Blue variant,   and it looks like the rumors are true:  the S26 Ultra is not as glare-resistant  

[00:31] as the S25 Ultra from last year. The  anti-glare finish probably interfered   with the new privacy screen, which we'll  delve into more in the durability test,   but as you can see by turning on the privacy  mode, it reduces the brightness a whole lot.

[00:45] see the instant dimming happen when I toggle it  off and on. It's even more noticeable when I zoom   in with the microscope; you can see we lose like  half the pixels when privacy mode is engaged. So,  

[00:58] that anti-glare coating was probably the first  thing eliminated to keep as much light on hand   for the screen. But the exterior screen is  not what we're here for. Checking the S Pen   compatibility between the S25 and S26, we can  see that last year's pen is a tad more girthy  

[01:14] and doesn't quite fit in the new hole, which  is good to know. But the pen is also not what   we're here for. We're here because Samsung  upgraded their Periscope camera's hardware   by 37% and forgot to mention how they  accomplished it during the launch event.

[01:29] So, we're going to have to go in and find out  ourselves how it works all on our own. Getting   the back panel off is pretty easy. I've got  my new anti-clamp here, which should allow me   to lift up on the back glass and slice away  the IP68 adhesive under the panel. That way,  

[01:43] I can remove it in one piece without shattering  the glass. It almost feels like cheating using   this new tool, but if it keeps the back  glass in one piece, I'll cheat all day long,   especially since Samsung is not doing  a good job of selling replacement parts  

[01:57] to the general public. Unfortunately, though,  we do have a problem. It appears as if I have   misplaced my screwdriver. Luckily for everyone,  though, I remembered that my channel sponsor,   Ridge, happens to include a spare screwdriver  inside each of their new wallet boxes. So,  

[02:12] I'll just open up one of Ridge's new iridescent  front-pocket wallets so our work can continue. It's also worth noting that Ridge is having  their 13th-anniversary sale today where you   can get up to 40% off. Ridge is dropping a new  Iridescent Forged Fetty, Green Flash, New Ryu,  

[02:29] and Golden Horizon style wallets, and these  designs are pretty wild. All of them come   with a lifetime warranty. I've carried a Ridge  wallet in my own pocket for the past 7 years,   and while I personally think Ridge is the best,  you don't have to take my word for it since  

[02:43] they've sold more than 5 million wallets and you  can try it free for 99 days. If you don't like it,   just send it back. I've got the bright orange  wallet so it's easier to keep track of,   and every time I travel, I have a Ridge power bank  in my bag as well as a 45-watt power adapter with  

[02:59] two USB-C ports since I always need to charge  more than one thing at a time. You can get your   own at ridge.com/jerryrig to take advantage of  that 13th-anniversary sale. ridge.com/jerryrig

[03:11] Why am I here again? Oh yeah, we're looking for  a screwdriver. Turns out that Ridge uses a T5   screwdriver and we need a Phillips, but luckily I  found what we need. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is still   turned on, which we can rectify by just turning  it off. There are a total of seven Phillips head  

[03:27] screws holding in the bottom and 11 screws  up at the top holding down the motherboard.   When those are gone, I can pop off the rear  wireless charging coil. This guy can charge   up at 25 watts this year instead of 15, and it  can reverse-wireless charge headphones and other  

[03:41] phones at 4.5 watts, which is the exact same  as last year. You can't do a whole lot with   4.5 watts, though. Even OnePlus, may they rest  in peace, had 10-watt reverse wireless charging.

[03:55] There is another tinier coil of wires that rests  over the top of the S Pen. This is to sense the   location of the pen as well as to wirelessly  charge the internal capacitor on the S Pen   itself. What's super nifty is that the parking  garage for the S Pen slot is completely sealed  

[04:10] off from the rest of the phone. The dock  itself can fill up with water or liquid,   but none of that liquid can then enter the device.  Well, now it could obviously, but before I took   off the plastic cap, it could not. It's going to  be really cool seeing this on the teardown skin.

[04:24] With the S Pen back in its home, I'll disconnect  the battery. And I will disconnect the battery.   Samsung has finally increased the charging speed  to 60 watts this year and added dual power plugs   to help handle that increased load and power  transfer. I'll unplug the extension ribbon  

[04:39] and the display ribbon just like little Legos  and pop out the lower loudspeaker plastics. We   can see the red rubber ring and waterproofing mesh  over the loudspeaker opening, but at first glance,   there do not appear to be any balls inside.  No fear; if we crack the speaker open a bit,  

[04:54] all of the balls are still there piled up inside.  The balls help the speaker sound less tinny   and more full. Since the foam balls decrease  the echo of the tiny box, it's a good thing.

[05:06] Removing the rest of the extension ribbons helps  us get a better look at the internal battery,   all 5,000 mAh of it. The good news is that the  battery itself is extremely easy to take out.   Huge thumbs up for that. And apparently, dogs are  in fact allowed. If you understand that reference,  

[05:26] you're one of the OGs for sure. Setting the  battery off to the side, we get a glimpse of   Samsung's new vapor chamber. This year it is  15% larger and has a 21% increase in thermal  

[05:38] performance, and I believe it. This vapor chamber  takes up quite a lot of real estate inside of the   phone. Down near the charging port board, this is  the USB-C 3.2 port that can handle 60 watts worth   of fast charging. It has the SIM card tray and  green emotional support bracket. Kind of cool.

[05:55] Samsung still has a water damage indicator  sticker near the SIM card tray. This will   turn pink and tattle on you if steam  or water gets inside of your phone. The   microphone hole has its own waterproofing  mesh, and the rectangular haptic vibrator  

[06:07] motor is placed in the center of the phone  right below the battery. Heading up to the   main board so we can get access to those  camera modules, we pop out the upper stereo   speaker first. This doubles as the earpiece  and clearly has blue balls inside. We don't  

[06:21] need to break this one open. I'll unplug the  front-facing camera. This guy is glued in,   so don't remove it unless you absolutely have  to. Then the motherboard comes free. We have   the new thermal interface coup on the back, and  we can unplug the Lego-style ribbon connectors  

[06:35] from the cameras that we came here to see. It's  absolutely wild how small this motherboard is.   Yeah, it's double-stacked and double-sided,  but it's just barely larger than my watch. Technology is pretty cool on the inside; I'm glad  you're subscribed here with me. Speaking of which,  

[06:50] the coolest update that Samsung has given us  this year, besides the ultra-large vapor chamber,   of course, is the 50-megapixel telephoto  camera, and they barely even mentioned it   during the launch event. This year's camera  is not quite as long as it was last year,  

[07:04] if you remember all the way back to last  year. Hold on, let me just refresh your   memory real quick since I do have an extra S25  Ultra periscope camera that we can compare to   this year's S26 Ultra's telephoto. While I  pop it out, do keep in mind that both cameras  

[07:20] are still 50 megapixels and both cameras  are 5x optical zooms with stabilization. The difference between the two is how much light  can reach the sensor at the end of the lens, and   that is where Samsung has given us a mind-blowing  37% improvement, from f/3.4 down to an f/2.9,  

[07:39] while reducing the overall camera length by 22%.  Samsung accomplished this new lens design with   what they call an ALOP. Maybe it's "A-LOP" or  "A-loop," but either way, it stands for All  

[07:51] Lenses On Prism. We'll take a look at this  year's S26 Ultra first, and as you can see,   just like the acronym implies, all the lenses are  on the prism. This allows for 37% more light into  

[08:04] the camera unit, magnifying that light through  the prism and onto the lens. It's also really   cool to see the different colored coils of copper  on every side. Just like in the LEGO Smart Brick,   these coils help with the positioning and  optical image stabilization of the lens.

[08:19] I can remove the camera lenses to see the prism  underneath, and we still find the camera sensor   is off to the side, perpendicular to the prism and  lens modules. Apple uses a tetraprism telephoto   design that keeps the sensor parallel with the  lenses. I do have a teardown on that camera  

[08:34] as well if you want to watch it later—you know,  normal activities. Making our way to the outdated,   37% less light-receiving telephoto camera on  last year's S25 Ultra, we see that the prism   actually came first, blocking a good chunk of  the light. Then the much smaller lens elements  

[08:51] appear later in the food chain, right before  the camera's sensor at the end of the row. More light directly correlates with better  pictures, especially when there isn't much light   to work with or while using Samsung's new night  mode they call Nightography. And for reference,  

[09:05] Apple didn't even improve their aperture at all  between the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone   17 Pro Max. I mean, to be fair, Apple's  aperture is still larger than Samsung's,   even with this new upgraded hardware—it's an  f/2.8—but we don't need to worry ourselves  

[09:20] about these minor details. What matters  most is that Samsung almost caught up,   Normally at this point, we might rip off the  screen to see the rest of the vapor chamber,   but I think we've seen enough destruction for  one day. A vapor chamber is kind of just a vapor  

[09:36] chamber. The S26 Ultra is a decent upgrade over  last year, but I still wouldn't rush out to buy   a new one if you have a phone that was made  in the last 2 or 3 years. The changes happen   slowly. I'm curious, though: do you think these  upgrades are worth 1,300 bucks? Let me know down  

[09:50] in the comments. And as always, I'll keep you  updated on when true hardware innovation happens,   so make sure you're subscribed. And look  at that—everything still works except   for the cameras. The discount code for Ridge's  13th-anniversary sale is down in the description,  

[10:05] right next to my teardown skin, since it's  always fun to see the insides of your phone   from the outsides without ever taking it apart.  Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.