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Samsung’s Unpacked event midweek revealed three new phones and two sets of earbuds, but the real standout, as usual, was the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This year, the Ultra actually has a few real technological changes – and no, we don’t mean it folds.
Let’s talk about its new Privacy Display. It’s not a shimmery, holographic screen protector that’s hard to read and constantly changes corners; This technology is directly engineered into the S26 Ultra’s OLED display.
Samsung Display revealed it Flex Magic Pixel technology back in 2024. The S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display is built into its rear. It controls the direction of the light emitted from the AMOLED at the pixel level, combining wide-angle and narrow-angle pixel arrays so that the display can switch between a wide-angle viewing experience and more private, upright views.
While HP’s SureView tech is the same, the amount of customization possible is incredible – and we all have public phones more than our… HP laptops. It can be perfect for keeping away from your banking apps, messaging apps and even dating apps.
Otherwise, the rest of the S26 series offers further updates with better cameras and newer processors. This makes the base S26 and S26+ a harder sell unless your existing Galaxy phone is several years old. Also, after the 2026 trend, they will all be more expensive this year.
Be sure to check out our first impressions (S26 Ultra, S26, Galaxy Buds 4); reviews are coming soon.
— Matt Smith
Other big stories (and deals) this morning
How much is a good night’s sleep? $250?
Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget
The dedicated ambient alarm clock offers many conveniences with your smartphone alarms — highly customizable alarm schedules, a library of soundscapes and noise masks and even Bluetooth so you can connect earbuds. No subscription, it sounds good and sleep visions are supposed to come. Still, $250 is a lot. Check out our full review.
Via a video game news site owned by ClickOut Media.
Review aggregator Metacritic has removed a review of the Resident Evil Requiem because it is created by AI. My city explained that the review was published on a UK gaming site Video Gamerbut appears to be “written” by a fake AI reporter rather than a real person. “Brian Merrygold” doesn’t seem to exist.
The author profile of the Video Gamer is awkwardly written like a review, and the account’s profile picture also appears to be AI-generated. Literally, the file name includes “ChatGPT-Image.”
ClickOut Media, the company that owns it Video Gamer and a collection of other publications, reportedly laid off staff at its gaming sites earlier this month to pivot to AI-generated content. Here it is.
