Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra: Expected differences

Galaxy S26 Ultra vs Galaxy S24 Ultra expected differences:

Table of Contents:

*Rumored/expected

The Galaxy S24 Ultra modernized the Ultra look with a titanium frame and a flatter front glass, dialing down the Edge curve without sacrificing that boxy, Note-style silhouette. This year, Samsung made further adjustments by thinning down and reducing the weight with the S25 Ultra.

The S26 Ultra isn’t expected to introduce any drastic changes. Rumors point to a body that’s slightly thinner than the current generation (about 0.4 mm), but the overall design of the body will probably stay the same. There were rumours saying that the S Pen won’t make an appearance this time around, but that was quickly debunked.

One area that may change is the camera module on the back. The S24 Ultra’s separate “floating” lens rings look clean but that design might not be sufficient to house the upcoming rumorued changes coming with the S26 Ultra. To accommodate thicker optics, the S26 Ultra may return to a unified camera island.

Materials and durability should remain flagship-grade (titanium-style frame, IP68), and Samsung’s more subtle color palette is likely to continue.

Samsung’s OLEDs have been excellent for years, and the S24 Ultra’s 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X was already pretty good thanks to high brightness. The S26 Ultra is tipped to keepcome with a 6.9-inch screen (like the current model) but move to a new M14 material/CoE stack, which reduces internal reflections and power draw while pushing peak brightness to around 3,000 nits. We also expect the excellent anti-reflection Gorilla Armor that was introduced with the S25 Ultra to be improved, increasing outdoor readability even more.

There’s also talk of a “Privacy Display” toggle tied to Samsung’s Flex Magic Pixel tech that would subtly narrows viewing angles for shoulder-surfing protection without dimming the screen. Otherwise, you can expect the familiar QHD+ resolution, 1–120 Hz LTPO refresh rate, and the ultrasonic fingerprint reader to carry over.

*Rumored/expected

The S24 Ultra’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 had great performance for its time, but it was vastly outpaced with the Snapdragon 8 Elite this year. With that in mind, we only expect the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on the S26 Ultra to create an even larger gap.

The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is built on a refined 3 nm process with GPU (~30%) and NPU (~40%) performance improvements over the current latest Qualcomm chipset.

Some reports also claim that Samsung will be adding a new 5G modem, the Qualcomm X85. If so, we expect it to bring faster data transfers, better battery efficiency, and enhancements enabled by AI. The reports list peak download speeds of 12.5 Gbps and upload speeds of 3.7 Gbps.Memory and storage should feel familiar: 12 GB LPDDR5X is expected again (with faster, more efficient modules), and the 256 GB / 512 GB / 1 TB tiers should return. Keep in mind that Samsung often offers a “free storage upgrade” at launch.

On software, the S26 Ultra should debut One UI 8 on Android 16 and come with Samsung’s seven-year OS/security commitment, which is the same promise that keeps the S24 Ultra relevant deep into the 2030s.

*Rumored/expected

The rest of the camera setup should stay the same: a 50 MP ultra-wide, a 5x telephoto, and a 3x telephoto camera. Samsung will likely keep the more natural color tuning it introduced with the S25 Ultra, favoring realistic tones instead of the overly vibrant look of older models.

The selfie camera is expected to remain 12 MP, with the long-rumored under-display version unlikely to appear this year.

Video might be where Samsung puts most of its focus this time. With Apple still ahead in cinematic video and stabilization, Samsung is expected to close the gap with smarter HDR, better mic audio, and possibly a few new shooting modes.

*Rumored/expected

Samsung has been conservative with battery capacity since forever, and that probably won’t change: the S26 Ultra is expected to keep a 5,000 mAh cell, just like the S24 Ultra. Even so, we could see better efficiency from the new Snapdragon and the OLED stack display, the combination of which could translate into a small but welcome real-world bump to the battery life.Where we may finally see a more serious change is with the charging speeds. Multiple reports point to up to 60 W wired on S26 Ultra (an overdue step up from the S24 Ultra’s 45W). If it happens, expect a noticeably faster 0–50% time. Wireless charging should remain 15W, with the open question being Qi2 magnets: full magnetic alignment depends on how Samsung isolates the S Pen’s digitizer from interference. The S24 Ultra doesn’t support Qi2 at all.