Privacy Display Technology

[Slate_Rose]

As you can see the app's qualities on both phones, the Privacy Display technology on the S26 Ultra is quite good. Even when the Privacy Display is off, the screen quality is not as vibrant as on the S25 Ultra. It's punchy on the S26 Ultra. 

(Click image to see the difference)

[ucancwhatic]

Interesting

[Slate_Rose]

You noticed, right? 😊

[Tom6068]

@Slate_Rose From what I’m seeing side by side, the S25U has a sharper, less fuzzy image and slightly better brightness on high contrast elements like the AdBlock app’s UI to the black background. The S26U looks a bit dimmer and softer to my eyes. I’m not saying it’s worse; that’s just how I perceive it. That difference will exist for anyone, regardless of how keen their vision is, and regardless of light source and/or how it is emitted naturally or otherwise as the light is perceived. But the subpixel array in the S26U will emit light physically different regardless of one's keen vision.

Most important: don’t rely on what others think or see, including me. It’s fine to use other people’s observations as talking points, but never look for validation from others on a purchase this expensive. Most people offering that validation are working from brand bias, not objective analysis.

[Slate_Rose]

I should have stayed with my S25 Ultra. 🥹

[Tom6068]

@Slate_Rose I actually did a side by side comparison between the two device at Best Buy early last month before release to stores. I even already had the S26U preordered through them, knowing that it could easily be canceled without issue, unlike through Samsung directly, which locks it in until the device is returned. Anyway to my eye when held them side by side with the privacy display on and off, the only things I noticed was the dimness is with it on. It clearly was dimmer and the font clarity slightly diminished, but not bad. But that is the purpose of that display to get the privacy as advertised, and it works.

With it off, I honestly could not tell the different between the two. But that is my vision, and vision acuity is going to be different for other people. In the image provided here, I can see a slight difference, but NOTE, I am looking at it on a PC, not my S25U where the differences are indiscernible in those image in the Members app on my S25U.

Anyway, I canceled my S26U preorder mostly because camera wise, it offered little of an upgrade outside of larger apertures that made two cameras marginally better. Outside of that, the addition of the PD, which is a cool feature and that I personally would rarely to never use anyway. I could not justify paying for a change even at the same price for my S25U 512GB model, as that seemed little more than a lateral iteration change to the newer ultra line and not a meaningful upgrade, without the extras I got last year. -

These are always my considerations when I buy products, especially tech; are the new features really that important to me, or are they cool upgrades that I feel they are just "must haves"? Are cameras really important to me (they absolutely are BTW) and the changes to them on the S26U really that meaningful? If the cameras are not important, then maybe it is a decent deal. But they are and it certainly is not for *me* a good upgrade. One overarching consideration was the camera support my S25U never got; not receiving even one minor camera software upgrade between Jan 30, 2025 and still to this day. And that grated me big time and cost a bit of trust too. Apologies for the long reply.

[USBetaModerator3]

Hello,

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