"The best smartphone is Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra"...Why Europe agrees

Samsung Electronics announced on the 2nd that the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (photo) ranked first in smartphone evaluations conducted by consumer association magazines in seven major European countries.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra was selected as the best smartphone by leading consumer magazines across Europe, including Which? in the United Kingdom, Que Choisir in France, Altroconsumo in Italy, Organización de Consumidores y Usuarios (OCU), a Spanish consumer association magazine, DECO PROteste in Portugal, Test Aankoop in Belgium, and Rad & Ron in Sweden.
These consumer association magazines are published by non-profit organizations. Their experts compare products in terms of performance, price and other factors, and provide the results to consumers.
In Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium, the device received the Best of Test Award, which is given to the top-performing product among those tested by each magazine’s experts.
Which? placed the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra at the top of its smartphone rankings with an overall score of 87, saying it "delivered outstanding performance in all laboratory tests."
Reviewers particularly highlighted the security features of the new Privacy Display. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S25+ both scored 85 points and tied for second place, meaning Galaxy smartphones dominated the top tier of the rankings.
Que Choisir also ranked the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra first with 17 points, noting that "photo detail is excellent, colors are vivid, and it shoots successfully even in low-light conditions," and adding that "videos are also excellent, with horizontal stabilization mode minimizing shake."
The Italian consumer magazine Altroconsumo likewise placed the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra at No. 1 with a score of 84.
Altroconsumo praised the phone, saying its battery life of about 51.5 hours and support for 60-watt (W) wired and 25W wireless charging were "impressive." Spain’s OCU described the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra as a "phone with no weaknesses" and said, "Its durability, display quality, battery life and camera performance are all excellent."
mkchang@fnnews.com Jang Min-kwon Reporter