The numbers are in (some of them, at least), and although it’s obviously still early days, it’s probably not premature to label the Galaxy S26 Ultra as one of the mobile industry’s biggest 2026 hits.
Based on the very strong start of the privacy-focused 6.9-inch giant in multiple key markets around the world, I expect that to be true at the end of the year too… but I’m actually hoping you’ll prove me wrong by holding off for next year’s Galaxy S27 Ultra in large numbers.
Samsung will not change its ways unless you force it to
I’m not going to lie to you, I was disappointed to see the S26 Ultra improve so clearly on the S25 Ultra’s early sales figures in a market as pivotal as the US, and no matter what you’re going to accuse me of in the comments section below, that’s not because I’m a Samsung hater.
The S26 family is more popular than the S25 series in the US, and the S26 Ultra is absolutely crushing its little brothers. | Image by Counterpoint Research
I mean, I can be tough on the world’s second-largest smartphone vendor, but generally, that comes from a place of great respect (if not love)… and a sense of frustration caused by the company’s repeated apathy year after year after year.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is admittedly far from Samsung’s laziest high-end effort of the last decade or so, but it’s also obviously not everything it could have been, cutting major corners in crucial departments like battery capacity, camera technology, charging speeds, and even design.
By giving the handset more credit than it arguably deserved for its Privacy Display “innovation”, modest charging upgrade, and unchanged (starting) price, you’re encouraging Samsung to continue to postpone or space out the true breakthroughs we all know the tech giant is capable of. And if you don’t agree with me on that, you’re either naive or totally clueless.
The S26 Ultra should have been a transitional device
Now, you may or may not agree with me on this, but I expected Samsung’s 2026 super-flagship to act as a stepping stone of sorts towards a truly groundbreaking iPhone 18 Pro Max rival, buying the company a little time before state-of-the-art technologies like a 6,000mAh or so battery, 100W or so charging, and a new 200MP camera sensor are deemed ready for the masses.
The Privacy Display feature is great, but we all know Samsung is capable of much bigger breakthroughs and innovations. | Image by PhoneArena
If the S26 Ultra keeps selling like hotcakes with a 5,000mAh cell, 60W charging, and the same Isocell HP2 sensor as the Galaxy S23 (yes, 23) Ultra, however, what’s stopping Samsung from pushing back some (if not all) of those hugely anticipated upgrades one or several years down the line?
The answer, of course, could be a next-gen iPhone flagship with a set of spectacular improvements over an already extremely well-reviewed 17 Pro Max, but unfortunately for both Apple and Samsung fans, I seriously doubt that’s going to happen just one year ahead of the handset family’s 20th anniversary, opening the door even wider to a boring S27 Ultra.
So what should you (realistically) expect from the Galaxy S27 Ultra?
I don’t know whether it’s realism or pessimism, but I have great difficulty believing that Samsung will go beyond the 60W mark for the wired charging support of its main 2027 flagship. Upgrading the same spec two years in a row would pretty much be unprecedented for the Korea-based outfit, which is why I wish you would have punished Samsung more harshly in terms of initial S26 Ultra demand for lightly raising the bar from 45W to 60W.
Will the S27 Ultra improve on its predecessor’s camera capabilities? Perhaps, but I’m not holding my breath. | Image by PhoneArena
Meanwhile, as much as I want to believe the 2027 S27 Ultra will trump the 5,000mAh battery size of the 2020 S20 Ultra (!!!!!), I’m afraid that number might only jump to 5,200 or 5,300mAh to avoid a significant increase in weight and/or thickness. A silicon-carbon cell on par with what something like the OnePlus 15, for instance, packs remains a utopian dream, and if you ask me, the same goes for a radical redesign with a Face ID-equivalent biometric recognition system and no screen bezels.
Will the S27 Ultra look identical to its predecessor? Probably not, but if Samsung changes the appearance of the rear-facing camera setup again without actually improving the photography skills in a noticeable way, I think I’m going to go crazy.
What if the Galaxy S26 Ultra is not as popular as it seems?
I know I already deemed the S26 Ultra a hit based on a couple of different Counterpoint Research reports (as well as a couple of Samsung press releases from last month), but there’s still a lot we don’t really know about the handset’s early success… and no way to know (for certain, at least) how its sales numbers will evolve in the coming months.
We probably won’t know for sure if the S26 Ultra is more successful than the S25 Ultra around the world for at least several more months. | Image by PhoneArena
Those reports conveniently leave out any mention of the Galaxy S26 Ultra‘s European box-office results so far, and buyers on the old continent often seem to favor lower-cost members of Samsung’s product lineup.
It’s entirely possible the S26 Ultra is, in fact, not as in-demand as the S25 Ultra outside of the US and South Korea, which keeps my hopes alive that Samsung will ultimately learn the right lessons from its latest high-end phones and roll out a revolutionary Galaxy S27 Ultra in early 2027. That’s the only way to keep a presumably game-changing iPhone 20 family at bay… before it’s too late.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian’s passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for ‘adequate’ over ‘overpriced’.
