"Even if it costs 100,000 won more, it's all about the 'Ultra'"... Galaxy S26 preorders, Ultra model grabs 90% [Daily IT Pick]

According to Financial News, some mobile phone retail and agency outlets report that the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra accounts for as much as 90% of total Samsung Galaxy S26 series preorders. Analysts say demand is being driven by the world’s first "Privacy Display" feature and strong preference for Qualcomm’s "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5" chipset.
The telecommunications industry and retail channels said on the 6th that, while figures vary by store, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is estimated to lead roughly 80–90% of preorder volume. This is despite the Ultra model being about 100,000 won more expensive than its predecessor due to a sharp rise in memory chip prices, and it is proving even more popular than the previous generation.
Observers note that the "Privacy Display" feature, which is not only a world-first technology but also exclusive to the Ultra model, has played a decisive role in this trend. A staff member at a retail outlet in Seoul said, "The Ultra has always been the strongest performer within the series, but it used to account for around 50–60%." The person added, "Thanks to the Privacy Display feature, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is enjoying overwhelmingly higher popularity than any previous series." Overall preorder volume is also said to be up about 15% compared with the last model.
Samsung’s Privacy Display offers advantages that set it apart from conventional privacy screen protectors sold on the market. First, users can turn the feature on and off with a single button. They can also choose to activate it only for specific apps such as KakaoTalk or YouTube. Partial protection is possible as well, for example by hiding only the notification panel while leaving the rest of the screen visible.

Brightness and image quality loss are also minimized. Traditional privacy films significantly darken the screen once applied, forcing users to increase brightness and consume more battery power. Samsung’s Privacy Display incorporates "Flex Magic Pixel" technology, which controls light at the pixel level. When the feature is activated, the display is driven mainly through vertically oriented pixels so the screen is clearly visible only from the front and hard to see from other angles. Because the hardware simply controls which pixels are turned on or off, there is no additional battery drain. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has praised the technology, saying it "should be applied to every device, including those from Apple."
The application processor (AP) "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5," which is available only in the S26 Ultra model, is also cited as a key factor behind the Ultra’s popularity. The Galaxy S26+ and S26 are equipped with Samsung’s Exynos 2600, but Exynos had previously been left out of the last series due to concerns over performance and overheating.
Samsung Electronics has brought Exynos back two years after the Samsung Galaxy S24 series by applying its in-house 2-nanometer foundry technology for the first time. The company says CPU computing performance has improved by 39% over the previous generation, Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) performance has increased by 113%, and heat generation has been reduced by 30%.
kaya@fnnews.com Hye-rim Choi Reporter