What changes can a phone undergo in a year?

We’re here to discover that. Samsung has recently launched its Galaxy S26 Ultra flagship smartphone during a Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco, prompting a comparison with last year’s Galaxy S25 Ultra. Both are robust Android devices, but one hopes that the additional year has enabled Samsung to refine and elevate the S26 Ultra.

Our hands-on experience with the latest flagship has been limited, with a comprehensive review on the way. In the meantime, here’s a comparison of the two smartphones in regards to price, specifications, and features.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: Pricing

This is quite clear-cut. The S25 Ultra debuted at $1,299.99 last year, and the S26 Ultra is priced identically this year. Samsung didn’t increase the price from one year to the next, making this comparison easier. (Though, the S26 and S26 Plus did experience a price hike.)

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs. S25 Ultra: Specifications and Display

Here are the core specifications of the Galaxy S25 Ultra:

• 6.9-inch AMOLED display featuring an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and 3120×1440 resolution

• Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset

• 256GB/512GB/1TB storage configurations

• 12GB RAM

• 5,000mAh battery

And here are the corresponding specifications for the Galaxy S26 Ultra for straightforward comparison:

• 6.9-inch AMOLED display with adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate and 3120×1440 resolution

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset

• 256/512GB/1TB storage configurations