All the features I’d like to see

Samsung likes to make a splash at the start of each new year. Its Galaxy S series flagships are some of the first off the presses, giving us a taste of new AI features, fresh Snapdragon (or Exynos) chipsets, and some of the newest, toughest materials that Corning’s Gorilla Glass team has created. And at the top of that bunch sits the Galaxy S Ultra.

By now, Samsung’s top dog is a known quantity — the Ultra is going to be big, it’s going to be powerful, and it’s going to come with a built-in S Pen from the days of the Galaxy Note line. However, there’s always a little room to dream about what else Samsung might do to flesh out those features. So, let’s look at just a few things I’m hoping Samsung changes for its Galaxy S26 Ultra.

There are no official rumors or leaks behind any of these. I’m just a guy who would like to see one of the best Android phones get even better, so let’s hop to it.

When I reviewed Samsung’s last Galaxy S25 Ultra, I came away with mixed feelings. Not on the performance front — the thing was a beast thanks to its Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset — but on the design front. Simply put, I couldn’t find a comfortable way to hold and use such a large device, and making it look and feel more like the smaller Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus wasn’t working.

Yes, it’s nice that Samsung ditched the previously sharp corners at the top and bottom of its Ultra — it realized that it didn’t need a perfectly flat edge for the S Pen to slot into — but I don’t like the replacement design. Rather than keep with the rounded sides that I’d come to enjoy on the Galaxy S23 Ultra and S24 Ultra, Samsung swapped to a flat, iPhone-like frame, and it felt like it dug into my palms the entire time I reviewed the phone.

So, for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, let’s make curvy cool again. Samsung’s rounded frames are so much more comfortable to hold than its sharp, flat ones, to the point where I’d happily go back to something like the Galaxy S23 again simply because I enjoyed carrying it around. Switching to a rounded frame would make the Galaxy S26 Ultra a bit more distinctive, too, now that others like Google and Nothing have adopted flat frames.

Sticking with my plea for personality, I’d like to see Samsung spice up its camera bump to match its newfound (theoretical) curves. We mostly made this remark regarding the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus, but there’s almost nothing to get excited about when each of Samsung’s cameras sits in its own circular cutout. Combined with the flat sides and simple colors, it nearly makes the trio look like generic phones that Apple would use for comparison’s sake, without the eyesore notch in their displays.

You know when Samsung didn’t have this problem, though? When the Galaxy S21 and S22 series came with their Contour Cut camera bumps. They weren’t necessarily fancy — you wouldn’t confuse them for something like the giant disc on a OnePlus 13 or the camera bar on a Google Pixel — but they broke up the otherwise simple design and put a little protection between each lens.

Now, it’s time for Samsung to bring them back. I mean, it already gave its Galaxy S25 Edge (which I can’t believe I’ve now referenced twice) a larger camera bump, letting it stick out almost the thickness of the phone itself, and I like the little dose of personality that it adds. And sure, Samsung did that because it couldn’t possibly fit the hardware within the body itself, but I still like that it breaks up the otherwise simple design.

Up next, the Galaxy S Ultra has always held a reputation as Samsung’s zoom king and one of the best camera phones around. It picked up 100x Space Zoom while the smaller Galaxy S devices stuck with 30x, and it’s always had the freedom to make the most of its extra megapixels. That said, I still think that ditching the 10x optical telephoto sensor from the Galaxy S23 Ultra and replacing it with a higher resolution 5x sensor was a mistake.

Now, it seems like Samsung might agree with me just a little bit — even if it’s in a slightly backwards way. See, the Galaxy S25 Edge (there it is again), makes the interesting move to ship without a telephoto sensor of any kind. However, it still supports up to 10x zoom from its primary 200MP sensor thanks to a mix of sensor cropping and AI processing, and I’ve been pretty impressed by the images I’ve captured over my month with the phone. So, if you ask me, the 5x telephoto sensor seems unnecessary.

Instead, I’d like to see Samsung trust its massive 200MP sensor for most of its base zoom. It can keep the 3x telephoto sensor, allowing it to work with the primary camera for everything from 3x zoom to just shy of 10x zoom. Then, I’d love to see Samsung bring back the slightly longer optical sensor for sharper results up to about 60x zoom. I probably won’t tap into 100x zoom very often, but if a longer focal length means better results in the middle, that’s good enough for me.

While most of my wishlist has been things I can hope for from the next Galaxy S26 Ultra, this next point might be the most important: Samsung needs to make its S Pen good again. If it’s going to keep the stylus that won over so many productivity fans on the Galaxy Note series, it can’t strip its features back to little more than the stylus on Motorola’s much more affordable Moto G Stylus, which is basically what it did on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

More specifically, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s S Pen used a Bluetooth LE connection to stay paired with your phone, and it offered clever features like Air Actions, which you could perform a few inches away from your screen, and it also worked as a remote camera shutter for grabbing group selfies. Now, both of those conveniences are in the past. Instead, the S Pen is, well, just a pen — and a very expensive one at that.

To make me happier with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, all Samsung has to do is undo what feels like a very silly decision in the first place. It just has to bring back the old S Pen and give it the features fans like. Maybe it stripped out some of that functionality from its stylus because not enough people were using it, but at that rate, it almost makes more sense to ditch the stylus altogether.

Should Samsung decide its S Pen doesn’t need much of an upgrade, I have another suggestion: Give me Qi2 wireless charging. Yes, I know the Galaxy S25 series was technically Qi2 Ready and could work with magnets if put in the proper case, but that’s not enough for me. If I drop over $1,000 on a new phone, I’d like to see it support the latest wireless charging standards.

Right now, the reason for not adding magnets to Samsung’s most expensive flagship is simple — they don’t play nicely with the S Pen. And that’s fine, the S Pen was here long before Qi2 debuted. However, if the S Pen doesn’t play nicely with the features it used to have, isn’t this more like taking two L’s for the price of one? I’m getting worse wireless charging and a less functional stylus while paying more than ever for a new flagship phone.

Since most of my suggestions for the Galaxy S26 Ultra have come in pairs so far, let’s round it out with a slightly larger talk about the phone’s battery and charging setup. Like most things, Samsung hasn’t budged from what works on the Galaxy S Ultra in recent years, which means its 5,000mAh cell and 45W wired charging are identical to what they were on the Galaxy S22 Ultra — a phone that will be four years old when the next set of Galaxy S phones comes out.

Four years is a long time in phone years, and to quote Taylor Swift, “Everything has changed.” Silicon-carbon batteries are appearing on more and more devices, with the comparatively tiny OnePlus 13T packing a 6,260mAh cell behind its 6.32-inch display and the flagship OnePlus 13 offering a 6,000mAh cell to boot. So, for Samsung to say that 5,000mAh is good enough, it feels like settling for less.

Unfortunately, 45W wired charging is no longer as impressive as it used to be, and USB-C is still a mess. OnePlus regularly ships its phones with 80W chargers in the box, and even Motorola is pushing 68W TurboPower on its latest Razr Ultra. Both are quick enough to run circles around the Galaxy S25 Ultra and get you back on your feet, even if you need specific chargers for all three devices.

As reliable as the fact that the sun will come up tomorrow, there will be a Galaxy S26 Ultra. Samsung has used the moniker for more than five generations across the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note lineups, and it’s hard to see that changing. In fact, with the special treatment that Samsung gives its Ultra, I’d go so far as to say that this is the safest bet of the entire Galaxy S series.

After all, if Samsung were to step away from its Ultra-tier flagship, it would be ceding control of the premium space to rivals like the Pixel 9 Pro XL or iPhone 16 Pro Max — an unthinkable choice right now. I think Samsung might be risking its control over the segment as it is, especially after the Galaxy S25 Ultra felt like a launch on autopilot, but that’s a debate for another day.

Outside of knowing that the Galaxy S26 Ultra is definitely on its way, we don’t know much else. We can, however, take a stab at when we think the phone might launch based on previous Unpacked events. Here’s when Samsung launched its last few Galaxy S lineups:

• Samsung Galaxy S25 — Announced January 22, 2025
• Samsung Galaxy S24 — Announced January 17, 2024
• Samsung Galaxy S23 — Announced February 1, 2023

If that’s anything to go on, we should expect a launch date in late January or early February of next year. This could change, though, with Qualcomm widely expected to launch its next flagship chipset in late September, which is earlier than its usual October window.

While it was pretty easy to say that there will be a Galaxy S26 Ultra, the more challenging question is whether or not you should wait to buy it. At this point in 2025, we’re about as far away from both the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S26 launches as we will get, so it’s like being dropped in a pool and deciding which way you want to swim.

If you’re a strong swimmer (er, your phone is in good shape), you could probably wait it out and pick up the Galaxy S26 Ultra when it’s eventually announced. You could also wait until we get more concrete rumors and leaks in place and then decide to grab the current Galaxy S25 Ultra instead. If your phone is on its last legs, it might be time to upgrade. It’s pretty easy to find a good deal on one of Samsung’s current flagships, and it’ll save you the anticipation of what could feel like another cookie-cutter update by the time it launches.

You could also look outside the Samsung ecosystem at the Pixel 9 Pro XL ($1099 at Amazon), which brings a Google-y flair and excellent image processing to the table, or the OnePlus 13 ($899.99 at OnePlus), with its massive battery, fast charging, and gorgeous blue leather finish. Then again, they’ll both be due for next-generation upgrades soon, too.