GoKawiilIf you're a regular lurker on the corners of social media that chat about Samsung smartphones, you've likely seen discussion about some odd behavior on the screens of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Some owners of this model have been reporting that the phone's display has been taking on a reddish tint. In the photos posted online, some devices appear to be developing a pink rectangle in the center of the screens.
It's unclear just how widespread this defect might be. Some claims date as far back as March, shortly after the device was released. Many of the more recent posts allege that the red color began appearing gradually after several months of use, or people observed it on the demo models in stores. We've checked over the S26 Ultra unit that we reviewed in the spring and have not seen any change to the color.
This type of display issue might seems like a trick of the light, but Samsung has confirmed that there is something afoot, although it's not sure yet about the reason. On Monday, the company told Korean site Newsway that it is "examining the matter internally to confirm the cause." We've reached out to Samsung directly for additional comment and will update this post if we receive a response.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is Samsung's only smartphone currently on the market with the Privacy Display feature, so some speculation has suggested that this might be the cause. Privacy Display impressed us in our review for its ability to block over-the-shoulder snooping with almost no change to what the phone's user is seeing, but some buyers had to return their devices after they experienced a range of symptoms including eye strain, headaches, nausea and dizziness when using the S26 Ultra. It's also possible this redness defect is a form of burn-in or that it's being caused by some other environmental cause. We may not know for certain until Samsung has more to say on the subject.