We’re just days away from Samsung officially unveiling the Galaxy S26 series at its Galaxy Unpacked event. While most countries are waiting until the scheduled release date to begin sales, some markets, such as Dubai, have no qualms about selling the smartphone ahead of time. As a result, a tech YouTuber has managed to get hold of the device and share an early hands-on.
The YouTuber in question is none other than Sahil Karoul, and he took to X to reveal that he purchased the white variant of the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It’s worth noting that Karoul did not reveal the device’s storage, nor did he mention how much he paid for it. Regardless, after unboxing the device and transferring his data, he wasted no time comparing the Galaxy S26 Ultra with other flagship handsets, including last year’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the vivo X300 Pro.
In these side-by-sides, we noticed that the Galaxy S26 Ultra has a surprisingly sizable camera bump, which becomes more apparent when compared to the S25 ultra. This is intriguing, to say the least, given that the sensor hardware has reportedly changed very little from the previous model. Additionally, the Galaxy S26’s body appears a bit rounder than its predecessor’s.
Though it may seem like a minor change, this rounder body has a slightly bigger impact than most people initially assume. In a follow-up post, Karoul noted that the new S-Pen features a uniquely shaped rear button, restricting users to inserting the stylus into the smartphone in a single orientation.
For your reference, the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s S-Pen had a flat bottom, letting users place it back in any orientation they preferred. The YouTuber also added that the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s pen still does not have any Bluetooth functionalities.
He also took the time and showed off the new Privacy Display feature, which works as promised. For those unfamiliar with it, this feature is essentially a built-in privacy screen protector. Enabling it in the settings narrows the viewing angle on Samsung’s AMOLED panel: users looking at the display head-on can see its contents clearly, while onlookers at an angle see only a black screen.
Finally, Karoul shared the device’s benchmark results, reporting an AnTuTu score of 2,720,219, along with a Geekbench 6 score of 3,648 for single-core performance and 10,898 for multi-core performance. He also reports that the device did not experience any heating issues.
As mentioned above, the YouTuber did not reveal the device’s price, and we will likely only learn it when the device officially debuts later this week. To reiterate, Galaxy Unpacked will take place on 26 February, so be sure to mark your calendars if you plan to tune in.
(Source: Sahil Karoul on X [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7])
