Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display is the best new feature in years
Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display is the best new feature in years
https://9to5google.com/2026/02/25/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-privacy-display-demo-hands-on/
Publish Date: 2026-02-25 13:15:00
Source Domain: 9to5google.com
Smartphones have felt somewhat stagnant over the past several years, with truly “new” features being fairly rare. There’s plenty of innovation in software, but on the hardware front, you’re largely just looking at refinement and improvement of what’s been around for ages. While Samsung’s Galaxy S26 series might be one of the biggest offenders ever of leaning on refinement, the Galaxy S26 Ultra delivers one of the first truly new smartphone features in years with its new “Privacy Display,” and I think it’s awesome.
The core idea behind Privacy Display on the Galaxy S26 Ultra is to hide what’s on your display from those around you, and it does that in a similar way to the privacy screen protectors that have been around for years. But, unlike those screen protectors, this is baked directly into the display.
On its own, that’s already super cool, and it works really well in person.
When Samsung invited us out to San Francisco to check out the Galaxy S26 series, my first stop was a beeline for the Privacy Display demo. Available solely on Galaxy S26 Ultra, this is one of those features that is just impressive from the first time you use it. When activated, Privacy Display changes how the pixels in your display emit light, making it harder or near-impossible to view the display at an off-angle. At its default setting, it definitely works, but the contents of the display are visible at less-sharp angles. Samsung has a “maximum” setting that takes this up a notch, and that setting makes it even harder to see the contents and narrows the field-of-view even further.
So what’s the trade-off here?
Privacy Display, somewhat like the privacy screen protectors, does make the whole display a bit less bright. When you toggle it on there’s an immediate and noticeable difference in the brightness and the…
