The Galaxy S26 will feel incomplete without these features

Samsung needs to catch up with rival brands for its flagship to feel truly ‘Ultra’

Until a few years ago, a flagship Samsung Galaxy launch evoked excitement. But with the company failing to keep up with the competition, that's no longer the case. Samsung has stuck to the same formula in recent years, only making iterative upgrades to its Ultra flagship. Sadly, if the leaks hold true, the Galaxy S26 Ultra won't be any different either. It won't be a bad phone — just like the last few Ultras.

For all the improvements that the Galaxy S26 family is rumored to pack, the lack of native Qi2 support will sting the most. For a feature that is so useful in daily life, it's surprising that Samsung appears ready to skip it again. As the world's largest Android manufacturer, Samsung sets the tone for the broader ecosystem. If it adopts Qi2 natively on its flagship phones, it would open the door to a wide range of accessories from third-party manufacturers.

It's not just about accessories. Native Qi2 support would dramatically improve the wireless charging experience itself. You will no longer have to fiddle around to find the perfect alignment. The phone would snap into place on a compatible charger for a more secure and efficient wireless charging experience. Using a case to fill the magnetic gap does not count either. It makes the phone bulky and adds a bottleneck in accessing a feature that, frankly, should be standard on a flagship phone in 2026.

Samsung was among the first major smartphone brands to bring periscope zoom cameras to flagship devices. For a while, Galaxy Ultra phones set the benchmark for long-range photography, especially with their ambitious "Space Zoom" branding. But like in several other aspects, Samsung failed to capitalize on this lead. All leaks point to the Galaxy S26 Ultra doing little to buck this trend. It will supposedly only get a wider f/2.9 aperture.

Otherwise, it will stick to the same 50MP periscope shooter as the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Like the primary camera, a wider aperture will allow more light to reach the sensor, thereby improving low-light imaging. Still, don't expect any radical improvements. Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo ship their premium and flagship phones with massive periscope camera sensors and wide apertures. In comparison, Samsung has largely stuck to the same setup.

It only switched to a 5x periscope shooter, ditching the 10x in the processor, after Apple switched to it with the iPhone 15 Pro Max in 2024. On many Chinese flagships, the periscope zoom camera doubles as a powerful macro shooter. This allows you to capture detailed close-up shots without getting uncomfortably close to your subject. While this may not seem like a big deal, it lets you capture some stunning pictures.

Samsung has not only failed to upgrade the periscope camera hardware on its flagship phone, but it hasn't even expanded its capabilities with features like macro photography. The lack of this feature alone ensures I won't buy a Galaxy S26 Ultra as my daily driver. This makes it feel like the company is doing the bare minimum to stay competitive. And with the Galaxy S26 Ultra rumored to launch with mostly the same camera zoom hardware, it will again reinforce this point.

Samsung flagships were once known for their imaging performance. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case, with the company falling far behind its Chinese rivals. The Galaxy S25 Ultra cameras cannot keep up with even the Pro flagships from Oppo, Vivo, or Xiaomi. Their phones come with larger primary cameras, superior periscope zoom systems, and more aggressive image processing that delivers consistent and reliable results in low light.

Sadly, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra rumored to get only a wider aperture for the primary 200MP camera, it will continue that trend. An f/1.5 aperture should help improve light intake and night photos. But that alone won't be enough to make up for the inferior hardware, including a smaller sensor size and poor processing. For years, Samsung phones have been criticized for their poor imaging performance when capturing pictures of kids or pets due to motion blur.

This is especially evident in low-light and challenging scenarios. Even after all this time, the problem persists, and the S26 Ultra is unlikely to resolve it. Subpar camera hardware will make the Galaxy S26 Ultra feel incomplete, and certainly not worth its "Ultra" moniker. The Galaxy S25 Ultra features a 12MP f/2.2 selfie snapper with autofocus support. Leaks suggest the Galaxy S26 Ultra will also use the same camera setup.

This is not a bad setup at all. The 12MP snapper can reliably capture decent selfies. However, Apple upped the game in the front camera department in a big way with the iPhone 17 last year. The 18MP Center Stage camera uses a square sensor, which fundamentally changes how selfies or videos are captured. With Center Stage support, you don't need to rotate the iPhone horizontally to take groupfies. Instead, the camera automatically switches between horizontal and vertical framing.

It also dynamically adjusts the framing depending on how many people you want to capture. What's even more impressive is that Apple uses the new 18MP front camera across the entire iPhone 17 family, including the non-Pro model. And that will make the Galaxy S26 Ultra's rumored 12MP f/2.2 selfie camera feel even more outdated. Samsung's biggest rival is delivering smarter framing, a more versatile sensor, and a genuinely modern front-camera experience.

In comparison, Samsung appears content to stick with good enough hardware. Starting with the 2023 Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung's flagship Ultra phones have offered decent battery life. They can make it through a day of heavy use, with around six to seven hours of screen-on time. While that's decent, the problem is that the competition has not remained stagnant. Phones are launching with massive 7,000mAh+ cells delivering multi-day battery life.

By comparison, Samsung will reportedly still stick to a 5,000mAh battery on the S26 Ultra — the same as its 2021 Galaxy S21 Ultra. Even with all the optimizations, a phone with a 7,000mAh+ battery, like the OnePlus 15, will easily outlast the Galaxy S26 Ultra by a big margin. And that's a shame. For a company that was among the first to deliver decent battery life on flagship phones, it's disappointing to see Samsung falling behind the competition.

The smaller battery also signals Samsung's apprehension about adopting new technology. Many Chinese flagship phones now use silicon-carbon batteries, which offer higher energy density in slimmer and lighter designs. Then there's Samsung, which has not bumped the battery capacity on its flagship phones in almost five years, a choice that's hard to justify in 2026. Worse, the company will supposedly bump the charging speed to 60W on the S26 Ultra.

By Samsung's standards, that's a big jump from the 45W charging on its last few Ultras. But it's still notably behind the competition. The OnePlus 15 can pull up to 80W in the US, and can reach up to 120W in other regions. Several other Chinese flagships comfortably cross the 100W mark, delivering a near full charge in well under 30 minutes. In comparison, the Galaxy S26 Ultra may still take significantly longer to top up.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra will almost certainly be among the best Android phones to launch in 2026, at least in the US where there's not much competition. It will rely on Samsung's strengths: premium build quality, a polished software experience, a gorgeous display, and reliable hardware to stand out from its competitors. That alone won't be enough, though. If the Galaxy S26 misses out on all the features mentioned above, it won't feel like an ambitious flagship as its Ultra name suggests.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in samsung. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

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