Unfortunately, as we get closer to Unpacked, we’re starting to hear more and more bad news for the Galaxy S26 lineup. We had already heard rumors that the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus would stick with the same camera sensors once again, and it looks like they will make a few changes to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but nothing major.
A common issue with the Galaxy S25 Ultra , and a lot of other modern smartphones, is lens flare. Some smartphone OEMs have used advanced and newer lens coatings to resolve this issue; iPhones, for example, are infamous for this problem.
According to Ice Universe over on X, Samsung will supposedly use a new coating on the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s camera to reduce the flaring. Samsung will also be taking steps to reduce the yellowing of human skin tones. Which is another major complaint about Samsung cameras. This will be done wit the enhanced coating and a few processing changes.
But is this enough to make the Galaxy S26 Ultra worth buying?
Samsung has gotten a lot of flak lately for not making many changes to its flagship phones, and it looks like 2026 will be no different. The Galaxy S25 Ultra really doesn’t stack up to a lot of the other “Ultra” phones on the market, and with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung might fall even further behind.
Even in the US, where the amount of competition is really lacking, Samsung doesn’t even have the best cameras. Over on DXOMark , they have ranked Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra as number 22 globally. That puts it behind quite a few 2023 phones, and what makes it even worse is DXOMark doesn’t even test a lot of the phones coming out of China. So realistically, it’d be even further behind.
After using plenty of other phones not available in the US this year, it’s become clear to me that Samsung really needs to make some drastic changes to its cameras. We’re not asking for 1-inch sensors (though, that would be nice), but definitely upgraded telephoto lenses. A 10MP 3x telephoto that’s 1/3.52″ is absurd in 2025.
