GoKawiilFewer and fewer people are upgrading to new phones every year, and honestly, I get it. I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy S23 since October 2023, and it’s been a rock-solid experience. I’ve rarely felt it slow down, and while there are occasional hiccups, it’s not nearly enough to make me dislike the phone.
Recently, though, I got a chance to try the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and with the Samsung store offering a solid trade-in for my Galaxy S23, I finally decided to upgrade after nearly 2.5 years. I’ve been using the Galaxy S26 Ultra for the past couple of weeks, and there are three major changes that have made the switch feel completely worth it.
If you bought a Galaxy S26, did you upgrade from an older Samsung phone? 81 votes Yes, Galaxy S25 series 16 % Yes, Galaxy S24 series 16 % Yes, Galaxy S23 series 32 % Yes, Galaxy S22 series (or older) 26 % Yes, from a different Samsung phone line (Galaxy A, Galaxy Z, etc.) 6 % No, I came from another phone brand 4 %
Privacy Display is genuinely useful (but isn’t perfect yet)
The headlining feature of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is the new Privacy Display. For those unaware, this feature helps prevent people around you from viewing your screen. You can technically achieve something similar with a privacy screen protector, but Samsung has integrated it directly into the display, which is something we’ve never seen before.
You can toggle Privacy Display on or off whenever you want. So, if I’m watching something with someone next to me, like a video with my wife, I can turn it off, and the display becomes visible from the sides again. But when I am commuting on a train and don’t want others peeking at my screen, I can turn it on and limit the viewing angles.
In actuality, the Privacy Display works really well. Sure, it’s not as effective as a dedicated privacy screen protector, since some content is still slightly visible from extreme angles, but the implementation is what really stands out. You can keep the display looking normal most of the time and only enable the feature for specific situations.
For example, I have set it to turn on automatically for apps like WhatsApp and Messages, when entering a PIN or password, and for notification pop-ups. Only those specific elements are hidden, while everything else looks like a normal display. That level of control is what really made me appreciate the feature.
Sure, Privacy Display isnt’ perfect. There’s still some leakage from certain angles, and the “maximum privacy mode” makes the screen genuinely hard to use. But for a first-generation implementation, Samsung has done a great job. I’m already a fan of the hardware-level approach, and I’m confident it’ll only get better in future versions. But even right now, Privacy Display has been a big upgrade over my Galaxy S23.
Seven years of updates and Galaxy AI make this an easy long-term choice
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