Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs S26 Plus (Snapdragon)

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on February 25, 2026, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon), which is powered by the same chip. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 5x optical zoom
  • Supports higher wattage charging (60W versus 45W)
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon)
  • Weighs 24 grams less

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and S26 Plus (Snapdragon) crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
12 / 256 GB
33.7
(Mediocre)
Value Index
39.2
(Mediocre)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.9 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3120 pixels 1440 x 3120 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 500 ppi 516 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 1500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2600 nits 2600 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz 240 Hz
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Armor 2 Corning Gorilla Armor 2
Screen-to-body ratio 91.4% 91.7%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Peak brightness test (auto)
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 163.6 mm (6.44 inches) 158.4 mm (6.24 inches)
Width 78.1 mm (3.07 inches) 75.8 mm (2.98 inches)
Thickness 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) 7.3 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 214 g (7.55 oz) 190 g (6.7 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon)
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Max clock 4740 MHz 4740 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (2 + 6)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
- 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
L3 cache 12 MB 12 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Adreno 840
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 1300 MHz 1300 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon)
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 28391 27258
Single-core score 3624 3634
Multi-core score 11049 11036
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 1168602 1126364
GPU 1520337 1506051
Memory 448779 430002
UX 801526 748714
Total score 3939244 3811131
Samples [32 tests] [2 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Stability 67% -
Graphics test 20 FPS -
Graphics score 2737 -
3DMark Solar Bay
Graphics test 46 FPS -
Section 1 58 FPS -
Section 2 42 FPS -
Section 3 37 FPS -
Graphics score 11990 -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Graphics test 42 FPS -
Graphics score 7123 -
Sources: 3DMark [5]
Web score 23390 -
Video editing 8217 -
Photo editing 37389 -
Data manipulation 18322 -
Writing score 32854 -
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (25th and 32nd place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-19 (Niko)AnTuTu 123439980
📘 2026-09-18 (KEKRiLL)AnTuTu 124208433
📘 2026-09-14 -> Mi7haAnTuTu 124485552
📘 2026-09-05 (Pavel)AnTuTu 113959848
📘 2026-08-29 -> szymon-bonkowskiAnTuTu 114220521
Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-25 (Ahmed)AnTuTu 113643182
📘 2026-06-13 (Sparky)Geekbench 6 GPU29139
📘 2026-06-03 (Krish)Geekbench 6 GPU25262
📘 2026-06-03 (Krish)Geekbench 6 CPU3634 / 11036
📘 2026-06-03 (Krish)AnTuTu 113811131

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 12 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz 5300 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 16
ROM One UI 8.5 One UI 8.5
OS size 33.2 GB 30.8 GB
OS updates 7 years 7 years
Security updates 7 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 4900 mAh
Max charge power 60 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (25 W) Yes (25 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes Yes
Fast charging Yes (84% in 30 min) Yes (69% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:43 hr 1:01 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 10:12 hr -
Watching video 21:39 hr -
Gaming 06:42 hr -
Standby 130 hr -
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 200 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 16320 x 12240 8160 x 6120
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 3x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 240FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 120° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 50 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 200 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.4 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KHP2 Samsung ISOCELL S5KGNG
Sensor size 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch) 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 0.6 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/2.9 f/2.4
Focal length 111 mm 69 mm
Sensor Sony IMX854 Samsung ISOCELL S5K3LD
Sensor size 1/2.52" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/3.94" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.9 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KJN3 Sony IMX564
Sensor size 1/2.5" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Bokeh 165 -
Zoom 141 -
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5K3LU Samsung S5K3LU
Sensor size 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch) 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 6.0
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes Yes, DP 1.2
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2026 February 2026
Release date March 2026 March 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $1299 $1099
SAR (head) 1.28 W/kg 0.78 W/kg
SAR (body) 1.35 W/kg 1.22 W/kg
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

These smartphones have a lot in common, but we would recommend the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
81 (47.4%)
90 (52.6%)
Total votes: 171

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