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Galaxy S26 Ultra leaks: Samsung to target professionals with Apple ProRes alternative and big display upgrades

The Galaxy S26 launch is still a few months away, but there have already been quite a few hints at the upgrades and features Samsung is planning for it’s upcoming flagship series. Some of them could make the Galaxy S26 Ultra particularly interesting.

While the Apple iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone Air and Chinese smartphones such as the Xiaomi 17, Vivo X300 and Oppo Find X9 are currently making headlines, some exciting information about Samsung's successors to the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, Galaxy S25 Edge, and Galaxy S25 Ultra has emerged in social media posts and insider reports in recent hours.

Display upgrades for the Galaxy S26 Ultra...A big upgrade for the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to be the display. For example, the Korean publication EtNews has already reported on the Samsung M14 AMOLED panel generation, which could make its first appearance in a Samsung flagship. In combination with the COE technology mentioned in the past, it could provide a significantly brighter, more energy-efficient and thinner display for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, only the Ultra model is likely to benefit from this, while the Galaxy S26 Pro and Galaxy S26 Edge, also known as the Galaxy S26 Air, will remain on the M13 AMOLED generation that’s also featured in the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S25 series.

Samsung M14 AMOLED hits Galaxy S26 Ultra after iQOO 15...Until now, Samsung hasn't officially advertised its new M14 panels, but the first Chinese smartphone manufacturers have jumped the gun. Specifically, Vivo first advertised Samsung M14 features at the iQOO 15 launch event, such as the maximum brightness of 2,600 nits, a 44% reduction in power consumption and the high refresh rate of 144Hz. Whether all these features will also be offered on the Galaxy S26 Ultra remains to be seen. In any case, the omitted polarizer should bring clear advantages not only for the iQOO 15 but also for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

"Flex Magic Pixel" privacy display confirmed by One UI 8.5...Months ago, there were rumors of a so-called "Flex Magic Pixel" feature in the Galaxy S26 Ultra. This was recently confirmed by a code analysis of an early One UI 8.5 beta version. As code snippets published by Android Authority suggest, this very useful feature may be marketed as "Private Display" or "Privacy Display," which describes its purpose quite well. It’s like a privacy filter, often offered by third-party providers, that can be activated at the touch of a button or via AI if you don't want a nosy person sitting next to you to look at your screen on trains, buses or airplanes.

According to the code, there will be a maximum privacy mode that darkens the display and additional manual settings that only activate the feature in certain apps or at certain times. Together with the M14 AMOLED panel and thinner design with a color filter instead of a polarizer, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could offer a substantial display upgrade, although these will probably be exclusive to the Ultra model.

Advanced Professional Video codec takes on Apple ProRes...Last but not least, Samsung will apparently try to attract camera professionals with an alternative to Apple's ProRes. The APV codec is supposed to preserve high-quality, "Hollywood-quality" video even after extensive post-processing. The screenshots below are partly from an official Samsung video from the Samsung Developer Conference in 2023 (SDC23), which we have linked at the bottom.

According to Ice Universe, who cites two sources for this One UI 8.5 leak, the Advance Professional Video Codec will be 20% more storage efficient, creating smaller video files and offering lossless compression with support for Log, HDR as well as 12-bit colors. Other mentioned features include 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, support for frame rates up to 4K100 and 8K25, Horizon Lock and LUT support in the Galaxy S26 Ultra camera app. Samsung apparently wants to lure ambitious video professionals away from Apple's iPhone 17 Pro. It remains to be seen how successful this will be. Previous Galaxy S26 camera hardware leaks have suggested brighter cameras but still rather outdated sensors.

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