Samsung Galaxy S26 Family Thread

W50 · 2 Mar 2026 at 21:30

Worth a watch.

Moobert · 2 Mar 2026 at 22:06

Anyone not using their loyalty code fancy firing it this direction lol? Samsung chat are a nightmare and no chance of getting the codes that they should have given out.

Nexus18 · 3 Mar 2026 at 07:14

TCB is showing now too so effectively £547, not too shabby at all.

More reports coming in now that the camera is a pretty nice upgrade overall. The 10 bit display is looking good too, less banding in content:

smokedog · 3 Mar 2026 at 09:52

The cheapest S26U is £787, not including TCB. I would jump on this if I had a S25U as trade-in, the cost of change is less than £100.

Moobert · 3 Mar 2026 at 11:04

smokedog said:
The cheapest S26U is £787, not including TCB. I would jump on this if I had a S25U as trade-in, the cost of change is less than £100.

This would be for the EPP store with Paypal, loyalty and extra 100 trade in I imagine?

If you have a loyalty code and don't decide to use it today before it expires consider donating it this way lol

Nexus18 · 3 Mar 2026 at 11:11

smokedog said:
The cheapest S26U is £787, not including TCB. I would jump on this if I had a S25U as trade-in, the cost of change is less than £100.

Will @mrk fold.... With the 10 bit display and camera improvements, I think so

$anch3z · 3 Mar 2026 at 11:13

smokedog said:
The cheapest S26U is £787, not including TCB. I would jump on this if I had a S25U as trade-in, the cost of change is less than £100.

I'm staying with the s25u, nothing tempting about the s26u

malachi · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:14

$anch3z said:
I'm staying with the s25u, nothing tempting about the s26u

Same nothing else but AI stuff. Which I'm sure the s25u can do perfectly fine.

Omar · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:16

On HUKD there were people saying they got a £100 PayPal discount (without using a code) to work on the EPP/Student site - I couldn't get this to work and it checked out immediately once authenticated on PayPal via the pop-up window without confirming the final amount.

Edit: Sounds like Samsung are cancelling any orders where the PayPal discount worked on the EPP/Student site as it was not intended

mrk · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:16

Nexus18 said:
Will @mrk fold.... With the 10 bit display and camera improvements, I think so

What will the display benefit me for? It's visually lower quality display because of the privacy pixels, even if technically better dynamic range lol

And no not interested in the S26 at all.

Omar · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:17

There's also now news that the panel is actually 8-bit with dithering to make it "10-bit-like" without actually being 10-bits - so basically all the rumours were wrong and Samsung was at best a bit misleading...

uscool · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:28

Nexus18 said:
TCB is showing now too so effectively £547, not too shabby at all.

More reports coming in now that the camera is a pretty nice upgrade overall. The 10 bit display is looking good too, less banding in content:

The Galaxy S26 series doesn't feature 10-bit displays

The official site spec lists it at 16.7 million colors which is 8 bit , 10 bit is 1.07 billion

The Galaxy S26 series doesn't feature 10-bit displays

A Samsung spokesperson has reached out to us notifying us that the Galaxy S26 Ultra's display has an 8-bit color depth, and not 10-bit.

www.sammobile.com

Also this was posted but think it needs looking at more to confirm

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028467955286323550

mrk · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:36

Yes mrwhosetheboss pointed this out, it cannot be something that a FW update fixes as it is a hardware "feature" - They have crammed privacy pixels into the display, when the feature is off those pixels still exist and the byproduct of them existing is lower fidelity legibility

Like I said before, this feels like a beta feature put into release and Samsung will then gauge what buyers feel about it.

I think it's a useless feature that will not return going forwards as a result of this. High time the Spen also got binned and then makes way for a bigger battery, something people actually can make proper use of.

smokedog · 3 Mar 2026 at 12:55

mrk said:
High time the Spen also got binned and then makes way for a bigger battery, something people actually can make proper use of.

This is one of the features I really don't like with the Ultra series. It's now also become more unsightly, since the S25 it no longer sits flush to the frame. I'm always worried it might fall out and lose it.

mrk · 3 Mar 2026 at 13:02

I keep the pen in the box and just have the hole on the phone, which is fine, but yeah that empty space could make room for a 500-1000mAh bigger battery otherwise.

here2018 · 3 Mar 2026 at 13:10

I use the s-Pen everyday. I do not want to see it disappear that's the whole point of the Ultra.

Just make the phone thicker for a bigger battery.

Nexus18 · 3 Mar 2026 at 13:17

Omar said:
On HUKD there were people saying they got a £100 PayPal discount (without using a code) to work on the EPP/Student site - I couldn't get this to work and it checked out immediately once authenticated on PayPal via the pop-up window without confirming the final amount.

Edit: Sounds like Samsung are cancelling any orders where the PayPal discount worked on the EPP/Student site as it was not intended

Nothing yet on my end regarding cancelled. Order has been confirmed this morning. Will probably re-order even if they do cancel it since £647 is still a great deal for 512gb gs 26 ultra, if anything to maximise on the trade in for the gs27u.

I would have probably gone for the gs 25 ultra had I been able to get it for £200 or so cheaper but alas, as it currently is.... the 512GB is more expensive than the 512gb gs 26 ultra model

uscool said:
The Galaxy S26 series doesn't feature 10-bit displays

The official site spec lists it at 16.7 million colors which is 8 bit , 10 bit is 1.07 billion

The Galaxy S26 series doesn't feature 10-bit displays

A Samsung spokesperson has reached out to us notifying us that the Galaxy S26 Ultra's display has an 8-bit color depth, and not 10-bit.

www.sammobile.com

Also this was posted but think it needs looking at more to confirm

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028467955286323550

Yup it looks like it might be 8 bit + FRC to emulate 10 bit like many monitors do, 8 bit + FRC is very good, at least with a nvidia gpu so will be interesting to see how this actually looks.

Seems like there is a mix of opinions on the display, overall the majority agree the gs25 ultra retains superiority for viewing angles and up close viewing even when privacy display is off.

Computerbase.de also mentioned similar:

Samsung Galaxy S26, S26+ und S26 Ultra im Hands-on

Samsung betreibt mit der Galaxy-S26-Serie sanfte Evolution. Im Fokus stehen KI-Features und das Galaxy S26 Ultra mit neuem Privacy Display.

www.computerbase.de

The impression, which was also omnipresent on-site and confirmed by several colleagues, was that the screen of its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 Ultra (review), offers slightly better display quality under normal use, i.e., when the privacy display is not activated at all on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The pixel arrangement of "Flex Magic Pixel" results in the Galaxy S26 Ultra having slightly less viewing angle stability, and Gorilla Armor 2 doesn't quite deliver its advantages as effectively as on the Galaxy S25 Ultra without this new feature. Furthermore, when viewing the OLED panel at extreme close range, and focusing, for example, on areas like the battery capacity indicator in the upper right corner, the pixels sometimes appear slightly frayed when viewed at an angle. These are nuances, but they should still be mentioned.

As mrk mentioned, to be expected with first gen tech though.

I'll be able to compare once it arrives as also have a gs25 ultra at hand.

mrk said:
Yes mrwhosetheboss pointed this out, it cannot be something that a FW update fixes as it is a hardware "feature" - They have crammed privacy pixels into the display, when the feature is off those pixels still exist and the byproduct of them existing is lower fidelity legibility

Like I said before, this feels like a beta feature put into release and Samsung will then gauge what buyers feel about it.

I think it's a useless feature that will not return going forwards as a result of this. High time the Spen also got binned and then makes way for a bigger battery, something people actually can make proper use of.

Someone posted this:

mrk · 3 Mar 2026 at 13:24

There are literally new pixels in between the regular pixels, no amount of setting changes will fix it from what can be seen, it's a physical trait not a software one, the privacy display system being added has created a bigger gap between normal pixels hence the lower legibility when the feature is not even being used.

Pawnless Endgame · 3 Mar 2026 at 14:01

Nexus18 said:
Will @mrk fold.... With the 10 bit display and camera improvements, I think so

Going by his replies, he's more likely to fold pocket aces than the S26.

There is always the Galaxy Fold though. Will he fold the Fold?

Pawnless Endgame · 3 Mar 2026 at 23:05

Ascendancy said:
Just go straight here: https://www.samsung.com/uk/key-worker-offers/

Then click NHS Discount and then put your mobile number in. It'll eventually ask you for an NHS email address to verify.

Okies, your post did the trick for me :-)

Had to do it in Chrome in the end though as Firefox and Brave was giving me javascript:void(0): when attempting to click on "verify with Samsung" button.

I didn't have to log into Samsung weirdly enough.

Phone number verified and NHS email verified using my work's laptop which is home with me as I WFH some days of the week.

Samsung offered £400 for my S23U 512GB pending that it's in good condition (no cracked screen or colour bleeding etc) and just with normal wear and tear e.g. battery.

Code S26AI for £100 off, obviously a generic code that anyone can use.
Code [unique to me] for another £100 also applied ok.
Code PAYPAL4 for another £100 didn't work.

This brought the price of the S26U 512GB (silver) down to £487.15.

Estimated delivery 27th March 07:00-20:00. I could have paid a tenner extra for a shorter slot like 12:00-20:00 but that's still 8 hours so I didn't bother.