The AI becomes invisible—just the way the phone works now.
Every few years, a device arrives not merely as an upgrade but as a quiet shift in what we expect from the tools we carry. Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra, released in early 2026, represents one such moment — not because it is louder or faster than what came before, but because its artificial intelligence has been woven so deeply into daily life that the technology itself becomes invisible. From shielding private screens on crowded commutes to editing photographs through spoken language, the phone asks a question worth sitting with: when a tool begins to anticipate us, does it remain a tool at all?
- Smartphone fatigue is real — most new devices arrive indistinguishable from their predecessors, and the S26 Ultra had to earn its place against that accumulated skepticism.
- Six AI features — Privacy Display, Document Scanner, Audio Eraser, Photo Assist, AI Call Screening, and agentic Bixby — each target a specific, recognizable friction point in daily life rather than showcasing technology for its own sake.
- The Privacy Display works at the pixel level to black out content from side angles, offering quiet protection to anyone who has ever felt exposed on public transport, while Audio Eraser now reaches into streaming apps to rescue dialogue buried under sound design.
- Photo Assist and AI Call Screening shift the balance of effort — images are edited through plain speech, and unknown callers are screened by a virtual assistant that transcribes responses in real time without the user ever picking up.
- Agentic Bixby now completes multi-step tasks across apps — finding restaurants, compiling them, drafting a message, and waiting for confirmation — signaling a trajectory from reactive device to anticipatory companion.
- Priced from £879 to £1,279, the S26 range lands as a credible argument that AI integration has crossed a threshold from novelty into genuine utility.
There is a particular fatigue that comes with unboxing smartphones. They arrive sleek and fast, and then they are simply phones — indistinguishable from the last. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra broke that spell, not because it is packed with AI features, but because those features have been woven so thoroughly into the software that they stop feeling like tools you are learning and start feeling like something that understands what you want.
Six features stand out after weeks of real-world use. The Privacy Display works at the pixel level: viewed straight on, the screen looks normal; tilt it even slightly, and the content fades to black, unreadable to anyone beside you. It can be applied selectively to notifications, PIN entry, or any sensitive area — a small mercy for anyone who has ever felt exposed on a crowded commute.
The Document Scanner automatically detects edges, corrects perspective, removes shadows, and can erase the fingers holding a page down, producing results that look like a flatbed scanner rather than a phone camera in poor light. Audio Eraser, meanwhile, has expanded beyond personal recordings into third-party streaming apps — enabling Voice Focus to lower music and boost dialogue, making previously impenetrable films suddenly intelligible.
Photo Assist allows image editing through plain spoken or typed language: select an object, describe what you want, and the phone handles the rest without requiring any design knowledge. AI Call Screening answers unknown numbers on your behalf, transcribes the caller's response in real time, and lets you reply by text without ever engaging directly — a quiet revolution for anyone overwhelmed by spam.
Most ambitiously, an upgraded Bixby now handles multi-step agentic tasks: ask it to find restaurants in Barcelona and text them to a friend, and it pulls options, drafts the message, and waits for your confirmation before sending. The phone becomes less a reactive tool and more an anticipatory assistant.
None of it feels bolted on. Embedded in OneUI 8.5, the AI becomes invisible — simply the way the phone works. Available now from £879 for the base S26 to £1,279 for the Ultra, what matters most is not the price but the feeling: for the first time in years, a new smartphone is genuinely fun to use.
There's a particular fatigue that sets in after you've unboxed enough smartphones. They arrive in their boxes, they're sleek, they're fast, and then they're just phones—indistinguishable from the last one, and the one before that. The ritual stops feeling like discovery and starts feeling like obligation. But the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra broke that spell.
What makes this phone different isn't that it's packed with AI features—plenty of devices are. It's that Samsung has woven artificial intelligence so thoroughly into the software that it stops feeling like a tool you're learning to use and starts feeling like something that understands what you want before you ask. After weeks of testing, six features stand out as genuinely useful rather than clever for cleverness's sake.
Start with the Privacy Display. On public transport, in crowded offices, anywhere shoulders are close and eyes are curious, this feature transforms how the phone behaves. Viewed straight on, the screen looks completely normal. Tilt it even slightly, and whatever's on screen fades to black—unreadable to anyone beside you or in front of you. It works at the pixel level, so you can apply it selectively to notifications, PIN entry, or any part of the display you want shielded. The brightness dims slightly when activated, and someone directly behind you could still peek over your shoulder, but the casual observer gets nothing. For anyone who's ever felt exposed opening a dating app on the tube, it's a small mercy.
The Document Scanner solves a different kind of everyday frustration. Harsh overhead lighting creates shadows when you're photographing papers—your head, your hands, the angle of the phone itself all conspire against a clean shot. This feature detects edges automatically, straightens perspective, removes shadows, and can even erase your fingers holding the page down. What emerges looks like it came from an actual scanner, not a phone camera in a poorly lit flat.
Audio Eraser has evolved beyond reducing background noise in your own recordings. Now it works in third-party video and streaming apps through the quick settings menu. Enable Voice Focus and the software lowers music and sound effects while boosting dialogue. Rewatching Christopher Nolan's Tenet became suddenly intelligible—Robert Pattinson's mumbling finally audible. The feature also excels at cutting wind noise from dramatic footage, like planes landing in storms. It won't solve every audio design choice (some mysteries remain unsolved), but it meaningfully improves how you experience video without headphones.
Photo Assist lets you edit images by describing what you want in plain language, spoken or typed. Select an object from another photo and ask it to appear in your shot. Darken a sky. Clean up a cluttered background. Add candles to a birthday cake you forgot to light. The feature works quickly and intuitively—no Photoshop knowledge required, no endless re-prompting. For someone listing clothes online, it transformed bedroom snapshots into professional-looking product photos.
AI Call Screening answers unknown numbers on your behalf. A virtual assistant asks who's calling and why, transcribes their response in real time on your screen, and lets you reply by text without ever picking up. For anyone drowning in spam calls, it's transformative—you maintain control while avoiding the interaction entirely.
Finally, there's agentic AI through an upgraded Bixby. Ask it to find highly rated restaurants in Barcelona and text them to a friend, and it does exactly that—pulling up options, compiling them into a message, drafting it in your texts app, waiting for your confirmation before sending. The phone becomes less reactive tool and more anticipatory assistant, capable of handling multi-step tasks that previously required your hands moving between apps.
None of this feels bolted on. It's embedded into OneUI 8.5 so thoroughly that the AI becomes invisible—just the way the phone works now. For the first time in years, a new smartphone actually feels fun to use. The Galaxy S26 Ultra costs £1,279 for the 256GB model, with the S26+ at £1,099 and the base S26 at £879, all available now. What matters isn't the price or the specs—it's that using this phone feels less like a chore and more like having something that actually anticipates what you need.
Notable Quotes
For the first time in years, a new smartphone has actually felt fun to use again.— The reviewer, after testing the Galaxy S26 Ultra
Artificial intelligence is woven so deeply into the software that it often feels as though it's anticipating what you want, rather than waiting to be prompted.— The reviewer, describing how Galaxy AI functions in daily use
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What surprised you most about how these features actually work in real life?
That they don't feel like party tricks. I went in skeptical—AI features often feel like they're added because they can be, not because they solve anything. But Privacy Display genuinely changed how I use my phone in public. And Audio Eraser in streaming apps? That's not flashy, but it's the kind of thing you use every day.
The Document Scanner seems almost mundane compared to generative AI. Why does it matter?
Because it solves a real problem that's been annoying people for years. Bad lighting, shadows, your own hands in the shot—these are things that made phone photography of documents feel inferior to actual scanners. Now it's not. That's not flashy, but it's useful.
Does the AI Call Screening actually work, or does it still feel intrusive to let a machine answer your phone?
It's not intrusive because you're in control. You see what the caller says in real time and can respond by text. You're not handing over your phone to an AI—you're using it as a filter. For spam calls, it's liberating.
Photo Assist seems like it could be a rabbit hole—endlessly tweaking images.
It could be, but the voice prompts keep it simple. You describe what you want, it does it, you move on. I used it to clean up background clutter for online listings and it worked in seconds. No endless menus, no learning curve.
What's the difference between this and previous AI phones?
Integration. These features aren't sitting on top of the software—they're woven into it. You don't think about using AI; you just use the phone and the AI is there. That's the real shift.
Does it feel like Samsung is trying to do too much?
No. Each feature solves something specific. Privacy Display isn't trying to be generative AI. Audio Eraser isn't trying to be a photo editor. They're focused tools that happen to use AI. That restraint is what makes it feel genuine rather than gimmicky.