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Last month, Chinese manufacturer IQOO debuted its latest flagship phone, the IQOO 15. While the phone is incredibly generic looking, something about it is very special: the display.
But Samsung isn’t going to just slap the same display on its next flagship phone and call it a day. The company is known for using different displays on its own flagships, for better or worse, and this time around is likely going to be no different. Since Samsung hasn’t officially announced the Galaxy S26’s display yet, outside of a teaser, we’ll need to base this on IQOO’s presentation of the technology and how that might look on a Samsung phone.
What they’ll get right
For the past two years, Samsung has excelled in outdoor visibility. Some might attribute this to peak brightness, but the real secret lies in the company’s use of anti-glare technology. The Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Ultra are two of the only flagship phones to use this, and it cuts down on the reflections that normally require high brightness to overcome.
What’s interesting is that Samsung is likely not only incorporating this feature again with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but will also be using a new Privacy Display feature that blocks out sensitive information on your screen to people trying to peek over your shoulder. That means the screen may be able to control the direction of light emission and fully block portions of the screen from passersby who might be looking at it.
Privacy Display looks to be fully customizable, as leaks have shown that you’ll be able to granularly select on-screen elements to automatically hide, like images and text, or go full Monty and black out the screen entirely if you’re not looking at it straight on.
Leaks say that Samsung’s “Flex Magic Pixel” technology uses directional “gates” that can be controlled via software. When the phone’s camera detects that someone nearby is looking at your phone, it positions these gates in a way that prevents the OLED from shining light in that direction, and is likely one of the reasons the company removed the display’s polarizer layer entirely.
IQOO noted in its display presentation that the Samsung M14 LEAD OLED is also brighter due to the removal of this layer, reaching a peak brightness of 6,000 nits in HDR scenes. IQOO isn’t utilizing the Flex Magic Pixel technology in its phone, so brightness of the S26 Ultra’s panel may differ from the IQOO 15.
The M14 display on the IQOO 15 supports up to 144Hz, but it’s unclear whether Samsung will support this on the Galaxy S26 series. It’s also got a 1440×3168 resolution, which, on the IQOO 15’s 6.85-inch display, equates to a razor-sharp 508 pixels per inch density. That’s slightly higher than the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which is already one of the most pixel-dense smartphone displays. Samsung is also said to be further rounding the corners of the display, making it more comfortable to hold.
What could potentially go wrong
For years, people like myself have complained about Samsung’s use of low-frequency PWM dimming at all brightness levels, which can cause headaches, eye pain, and other debilitating health issues. From what I can tell, IQOO has made several modifications to this display tech to ensure this doesn’t happen on its phone.
But I’m still not convinced that Samsung will follow suit on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. I’ve seen one rumor suggesting Samsung will use a higher PWM rate this time around, based on leaked code, but this feature seems to apply only to videos flickering at 15-30Hz, which can trigger photosensitive epilepsy.
The screen will reportedly dim during these moments, but since Samsung screens using PWM dimming don’t actually dim when they reduce perceived brightness, that point seems a bit moot.
Samsung’s displays currently operate at a 480Hz dimming rate, a number that far exceeds the photosensitive epilepsy danger zone, but doesn’t come close to meeting industry standards for flicker safety. IQOO’s implementation of 2160Hz would fix that problem for most users, but again, there’s no guarantee Samsung will implement that number.
Meanwhile, rivals like Honor have pushed this number to 4,230Hz and beyond, ensuring even the most flicker-sensitive users have a chance to use a modern smartphone without enduring pain. Specs like PWM frequency aren’t like other specs, as people who are flicker-sensitive cannot physically use phones with low rates, meaning this isn’t just some silly complaint about performance.
Samsung has fallen significantly behind rivals in the eye care category, often prioritizing high scores in artificial benchmarks over user complaints. Apple launched a new PWM-sensitive feature with the iPhone 17 series, and while Apple’s method doesn’t solve the problem for all flicker-sensitive users, it goes a long way toward acknowledging the problem.
We’re also not sure if the Galaxy S26 family’s M14 LEAD OLED will be a true 10-bit OLED panel, or if Samsung will continue to stick with 8-bit for cost-saving reasons. ChatGPT and some other sources will tell you that Samsung smartphone displays are 10-bit, but this is a cleverly crafted lie.
Phones with 8-bit panels, like the Galaxy S25 Ultra, use temporal dithering to achieve a full 10-bit color palette. Ironically, dithering often occurs at 15-30Hz rates, the very same rate Samsung is rumored to target for that photosensitive epilepsy feature I mentioned above.
Here’s hoping Samsung actually delivers a true 10-bit panel and doesn’t rely on nasty software tricks to achieve the effect. The company hasn’t historically acknowledged the flicker-sensitive community, despite the ubiquity of Samsung displays, and I haven’t seen any real sign that it will suddenly start caring this year. I hope I’m wrong.
More of the same, for better or worse
What I’m seeing so far is a Samsung that is doubling down on what it does well: delivering a sharp, clean-looking display that’s easy to see outside even in broad daylight. The company is reportedly adding a new privacy layer to the display, and that could give it a unique advantage over rivals who regularly trounce Samsung in areas like eye care technology and peak brightness.
Famed leaker Ice Universe is looking at things through a cynical lens, saying Samsung will almost certainly hold the M14 LEAD OLED back from greatness by limiting its brightness, dropping the PWM frequency substantially, sticking to an 8-bit display, and making other cuts to save on power and costs.
Considering Samsung’s market position, I’d hope this wouldn’t be the case, but time will tell whether the cynic is right. Either way, I’m expecting something new and exciting from this display, and that’s great for anyone looking to upgrade this year.
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