Samsung fans, rejoice: you don’t need to wait for Black Friday to score an incredible deal on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Weeks before the biggest sale event of the year, Best Buy is already carving $450 off the premium flagship, knocking the price down to only $949.99. Will that price drop even further when the Black Friday sales begin in earnest? Only time will tell.
8/10
- SoC
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Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Display type
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Dynamic AMOLED 2X
- Display dimensions
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6.9-inch
The powerful Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra boasts great performance, a lighter-than-ever design, and the introduction of the Privacy Display. Grab the phone unlocked today and you’ll score a straight $450 off your purchase.
The most powerful (and most expensive) phone in Samsung’s 2026 flagship lineup, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is big, beautiful, and packed full of premium specs. The device features a generous 6.9-inch AMOLED display with an embedded S Pen stylus, while under the hood you get the excellent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset with 12GB of RAM, a ton of Galaxy AI features, and a large 5,000mAh battery.
The phone also comes with One UI 8.5 (Android 16) as standard, while seven OS and security upgrades guarantee that your S26 Ultra will feel top-of-the-line for many years to come. Samsung was also able to make the flagship four grams lighter than its predecessor, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, without affecting the battery life or internal hardware.
Of course, the big headline-grabbing feature that the Galaxy S26 Ultra offers is its new Privacy Display. Despite being a bit gimmicky, the screen technology is interesting and does tend to work reliably in any light. If you’re unfamiliar, Privacy Display is a customizable display setting that makes it so your screen is only visible when viewed straight-on. This can be particularly useful if you’re using the phone on public transit or in any crowded space where prying eyes may be a concern.
So what’s the catch?
Like most of the ‘Ultra’ phones that Samsung has released over the years, the biggest issue that I have with the S26 Ultra is its price. Thankfully, this early Black Friday discount pretty much solves that problem entirely by making the phone cheaper than its base model counterpart, the Galaxy S26 (which usually retails for $999).
Other users have noted the lack of Qi2 built into the phone, and the cameras (while serviceable) aren’t exactly groundbreaking when you consider the asking price. The S26 Ultra also comes with only 12GB of RAM unless you upgrade to the 512GB version, which is starting to feel like a problem in the increasingly-crowded world of Android phones.
All in all, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is a premium smartphone that comes with very few noticeable problems, and at this price, that’s exactly what we should hope to expect. The device may have been a bit inaccessible at full price, but with this $450 Black Friday discount from Best Buy, the Ultra experience is about to reach a whole new audience.
