Did You Go to All This Trouble Just to Take Out the $9.9 Privacy Screen Protector?
Did You Go to All This Trouble Just to Take Out the $9.9 Privacy Screen Protector?
https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3702372880920967
Publish Date: 2026-02-28 01:32:00
Source Domain: eu.36kr.com
After smartphones, especially bar phones, have been competing in terms of “fast charging”, “imaging capabilities”, “benchmark scores”, and “smoothness” for four or five consecutive years, the privacy screen of the S26 Ultra can be regarded as the first perceptible underlying hardware innovation in recent years.
However, although this technology seems novel, it also implies some compromises and helplessness in an era of stagnant hardware growth.
Actually, under the impact of the global memory crisis on the entire industry, this screen of the S26 Ultra is not as glamorous as it seems. Instead, it is one of the few notable functional selling points of this annual flagship phone.
Meanwhile, this is also a question that every mobile phone brand that “cannot produce its own screens” needs to consider in 2026:
When AI narratives dominate everything, where should the next step of hardware innovation lie?
Why are ordinary privacy screens so bad?
Regardless of the uncertain future, the privacy screen of the S26 Ultra is still a rare new technology, which is particularly valuable in an era when changing a processor can increase the price by 3000 yuan.
From a macro perspective, the principle of enabling the S26 Ultra’s screen to achieve wide – angle privacy protection is not complicated: controlling the angle of light.
This is almost the same as the implementation method of those privacy screens on the market, with the difference lying in the technical approach.
So, where is Samsung’s innovation? It lies in the integration of functions and the precision of light control.
But to understand the differences and improvements here, we first need to figure out how those “privacy screens”, which cost anywhere from a few yuan to dozens of yuan, achieve privacy protection.
▲ Belkin Privacy Screen | Apple
Different from the reflective e – ink screen of the Kindle, the screen of a smartphone itself is a light source.
Whether it is the light emitted by OLED pixels or the…
