Galaxy S26 Ultra's privacy display feature might make you say, "no thanks"

The Galaxy S26 Ultra isn't even official, but Apple is reportedly already considering copying its marquee privacy display feature. The tech will obfuscate the screen when viewed from the side, ensuring on-screen content is only visible when the display is viewed head-on. While that sounds amazing in theory, an image floating around suggests the feature might be a little bit too complicated.

A complex suite of options

Leaker Tarun Vats has posted a couple of images that show Privacy Display settings, and there are quite a lot of toggles. That's because Samsung wants you to be able to customize how it works. It still looks overwhelming, though, and points to complications you may not have considered before.

You will be able to employ the "Auto-privacy" toggle to make the shield kick in when using sensitive apps or when you are in a crowded location. Alternatively, you can lay down custom conditions for the functionality to be activated.

For maximum privacy, you can choose for the screen to be dimmed down, but that can be annoying, and might seem no different from lowering the brightness on any phone.

Public places such as elevators or a train will trigger the privacy layer, and you can choose to hide the screen specifically when unlocking the phone or looking at sensitive images in your gallery while privacy display is on. Additionally, you can obscure notifications and the picture-in-picture window.

What permissions will the feature require?

The privacy display tool might need constant location and camera access to determine if a user is in a public place. That might not just be off-putting, but also put strain on the battery, which is the last thing you want when you are out and about.

The maximum privacy mode could make it very difficult to view what's on the screen, even for the owner of the device, rendering it useless.

There's also a psychological aspect. Not everybody in a public place is necessarily out to get you, and the feature might put you on edge unnecessarily.

Still a marvel

According to leaker Ice Universe, this is a hardware-based breakthrough. An optical viewing-angle control layer is built into the Galaxy S26 Ultra's display, which narrows off-angle visibility. So while it's still technologically impressive, whether the dynamic display feature will prove to be more than a party trick remains to be seen.