Finally seeing the Galaxy S26 Ultra at Unpacked 2026 didn’t really change my mind about the rounded design (still not a fan), but it did clarify the tradeoff Samsung is making. The phone feels more cohesive with the rest of the S26 lineup, and it’s undeniably more mainstream and easier to live with. In the process, though, the Ultra loses some of the visual authority it used to have, in my opinion. The previous Note-era boxy look gave it the sense that this was the phone for people who wanted the most phone, not just the nicest-looking one.

That said, the new Privacy Display is the kind of feature that made me stop complaining. Built directly into the display hardware, the feature limits side-angle visibility and can automatically hide sensitive notifications or kick in when you’re using specific apps like banking services. As Katie Collins notes in her commentary, it’s one of the rare phone features that actually feels new. Not flashy AI for its own sake, but a smart, invisible fix for a real everyday problem.

In general, most of the AI announcements didn’t land as strongly for me. A lot of it still feels like table stakes at this point: summaries, photo editing tools, nudges, briefs, blah blah blah. I don’t really care for more AI features unless they’re doing something to save me time or reduce friction. And that’s why AI call screening stood out. Spam calls are the bane of my existence (I get dozens a day), and anything that can intercept them, summarize what happened and let me decide if it’s worth my attention is exactly how AI should be used.

So yes, I’m still mourning the sharp-cornered Ultra a little, but between the Privacy Display and a few genuinely practical AI touches, the S26 Ultra is at least making a case that it’s evolving in ways that actually matter… to me.