From Singapore: Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco last week capped off a busy February for the world's largest smartphone maker. The Galaxy S26 Ultra was announced on 25 February and is set to hit shelves on 11 March 2026. For the millions of Australians carrying a Galaxy S24 Ultra, the announcement lands with a familiar mix of excitement and financial unease. Two years on from that flagship's release, is the hardware gap wide enough to warrant reaching for the credit card again?
The short answer is: it depends heavily on what you use your phone for. The longer answer reveals just how much Samsung has moved the dial on performance, privacy, and camera technology since early 2024.
What's Actually New
The most striking addition to the S26 Ultra is one that no competitor currently offers. Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces the world's first built-in Privacy Display for mobile phones, operating at a pixel level. Rather than requiring a clip-on privacy screen protector, the display lets users hide their whole screen, specific apps, or incoming notifications and passwords from anyone looking from the side. It is the kind of practical, security-conscious feature that resonates equally in a Sydney CBD boardroom and on a crowded Citytrain carriage in Brisbane.
Under the hood, the performance gap between the S24 Ultra and its 2026 successor is substantial. The S26 Ultra is powered by a customised Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform, delivering up to 19% faster CPU performance and a 39% improvement in NPU performance compared to the preceding generation. The S24 Ultra, by contrast, ran on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which at the time offered a 41% NPU improvement and a 30% GPU boost over the S23 Ultra. In two generations, the AI processing muscle has compounded considerably.
Camera improvements are more incremental on paper, though meaningful in practice. The S26 Ultra retains its 200-megapixel main camera but now promises better "Nightography" video, steadier shooting, and support for the APV codec for video professionals. Samsung says the wider aperture on the main camera delivers 47% improved brightness in low-light environments. S24 Ultra users already had access to a class-leading camera system; this is refinement rather than revolution.
The Australian Cost Question
Here is where fiscal discipline has to enter the conversation. The 2024 Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra launched at $1,399 for the 256GB model and went up to $2,799 for the 1TB variant in Australia. The S26 Ultra's Australian pricing has not yet been formally confirmed, but the global US dollar starting price is holding steady. The S26 Ultra starts at $1,299.99 USD, the same entry price as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, keeping the Ultra tier from the price creep that affected the base and Plus models.
For a consumer who bought the S24 Ultra outright at launch, upgrading in 2026 means absorbing another $2,000-plus expenditure for hardware that is meaningfully better but not transformatively different in day-to-day function. The S24 Ultra already boasts a 200MP camera, a 5,000mAh battery, and a 6.8-inch AMOLED display. The Galaxy S26 Ultra stretches that display marginally to 6.9 inches and slims the chassis, but the bones are familiar.
The stronger case for upgrading belongs to those who skipped the S25 Ultra cycle entirely. Stacking two generations of Snapdragon improvements, plus the privacy display hardware and AI enhancements from both the S25 and S26 software cycles, produces a device that would feel genuinely different in the hand compared to a two-year-old handset. As Samsung's third-generation AI phones, the S26 series handles complex tasks in the background, allowing users to focus on results rather than how the technology works, a pitch that would have sounded like marketing puffery in 2024 but now rests on a much more capable silicon foundation.
The Broader AI Arms Race
The competitive pressure driving Samsung's upgrade cadence is real and worth understanding. Apple's iPhone 17 series, Google's Pixel 10, and a wave of Chinese manufacturers, including Xiaomi and Honor, are all pushing hard on AI-assisted photography and on-device processing. Samsung and Google have deepened their AI partnership with the S26 series, bringing features previously exclusive to Pixel phones, including Gemini-powered Scam Detection that monitors calls and texts from unknown numbers entirely on-device.
Critics of the annual upgrade cycle have a legitimate point: the environmental and financial cost of replacing a fully functional premium handset every two years is hard to justify purely on hardware grounds. A Galaxy S24 Ultra running the latest One UI software still performs admirably and will continue to receive Samsung's security update commitments. For consumers who prioritise value and sustainability, holding the current device is a defensible choice.
There is also the question of what Samsung charges for Galaxy AI features long-term. Basic Galaxy AI features provided by Samsung are free, but enhanced AI features and third-party AI integrations are subject to different terms and may attract fees. Anyone evaluating the long-term cost of ownership should factor that uncertainty into the calculus.
Who Should Upgrade?
Practical guidance matters more than enthusiasm here. S24 Ultra owners with a cracked screen or degraded battery are natural upgrade candidates; combining a hardware refresh with genuine generational gains is sound economics. Those whose devices are in good condition face a tougher trade-off: the Privacy Display is genuinely novel, but it is unlikely to change the quality of most people's working day. The chip improvements will matter most to mobile gamers, video editors, and heavy AI-feature users.
The S26 Ultra goes on pre-order now via Samsung Australia and major retailers including JB Hi-Fi, with the official launch set for 11 March. Trade-in promotions will soften the cost considerably for existing Samsung users, and that arithmetic is worth running carefully before dismissing the upgrade outright.
Reasonable people can disagree on whether consumer electronics cycles move too fast or too slow. What is clear is that the gap between the S24 Ultra and the S26 Ultra is wider than a single-generation jump typically produces, the privacy display hardware is a genuine first, and the AI processing improvements are not cosmetic. For most S24 Ultra owners in solid working order, the prudent call is probably to wait. For those who skipped 2025 and are ready to move, Samsung has delivered a compelling reason to act.