- Samsung’s new Privacy Display feature uses a combination of narrow and wide pixels to limit visibility from off-axis viewing angles.
- The viewing mode is intended to hide your phone’s content from people trying to sneak a peek, but there’s an unintended consequence.
- Samsung confirmed in a statement that there will be “some variation” in display brightness at certain viewing angles.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra includes a genuinely neat display trick, and it’s the Privacy Display. The new display technology keeps the content on your phone safeguarded from prying eyes by controlling how wide and normal pixels emit light. However, anecdotal user accounts and lab testing have both pointed to the extra feature resulting in lower Galaxy S26 Ultra screen brightness than the Galaxy S25 Ultra in certain situations.
Following the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s official launch, Samsung is finally acknowledging that the device’s screen indeed may appear to be less bright when viewed at certain angles in a statement to TechRadar. The company says you can expect to see “some variation” at certain viewing angles, but also claims that there should be a “negligible” impact on usage.
