Samsung S26 Ultra UK release date, price and pre-order stock updates

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The Samsung phone family is expanding once again with a new range of S devices: the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra.

Announced at Samsung's February Unpacked event, this latest roster promises to bring a whole new take on smartphone speed and display, with the introduction of specs like an upgraded AMOLED screen, a 31-hour battery life and new privacy features.

As per usual with the Samsung S releases, the real treasure is the S26 Ultra, its top-of-the-range model which always pushes the boat out in terms of camera quality, speed and design.

This year the S26 Ultra is slimmer and brighter than ever before, with four new colourways including Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue.

Below, we'll take you through everything you need to get your hands on this phone, from price and specs, to how it compares to previous models.

Make sure you also check out the best Samsung Galaxy S26 deals and the Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro release date. Plus, the iPhone 17e UK d eals.

Jump to:

What is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra UK price?
Which UK retailers have the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in stock?
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra design: What does the smartphone look like?
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra specs: What's new about the device?
What is the new Samsung Intuitive AI?
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Is it worth the upgrade?

What is the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra UK price?

The Samsung Galaxy S26 range starts at £879 for the standard model, £1,099 for the S26+ and £1,279 for the S26 Ultra. However, the price will obviously increase depending on which storage model you have.

Samsung S26

256GB | £879
512GB | £1,049

Samsung S26+

256GB | £1,099
512GB | £1,269

Samsung S26 Ultra

256GB | £1,279
512GB | £1,449
1TB | £1,699

Which UK retailers have the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra in stock?

The Samsung S26 Ultra is available at Samsung, although you can also find it at a range of third party retailers and mobile networks. The advantage of these is sometimes the networks have packages that include discounted data plans, while external retailers like Sky and John Lewis have discounts on hardware like the Galaxy Watch8.

Samsung | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, Sky Blue, Pink Gold (Samsung only) and Silver Shadow (Samsung only)
Sky | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
Three | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
Vodafone| Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
O2 | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
Currys | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
John Lewis | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
Tesco | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock
Very | Sky Blue in stock
JD Williams | Cobalt Violet, Black, White, and Sky Blue in stock

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra design: What does the smartphone look like?

The design for the S26 Ultra is not radically different to its predecessors. The display is 6.9 inches like the S25 Ultra, however it is now slightly thinner and lighter at 7.9mm and 214g.

The frame is made of Armor Aluminium it has an Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on the front, giving your phone the strongest protection yet.

A new slew of colourways have come in, which are: Cobalt Violet, Black, White, Sky Blue, and exclusively at Samsung you can get Silver Shadow and Pink Gold.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra specs: What's new about the device?

As predicted, a huge boon for the S26 Ultra is the camera, which is promising to be Samsung's "brightest ever." It has a 200MP wide camera, 50MP Ultra Wide and 50MP Telephoto camera, plus a 12MP front camera and Enhanced Nightography Video - in fact, the entire Samsung Unpacked live stream was recorded on an S26 Ultra device.

Another change for this year is the brand-new Privacy Display. Available only on the S26 Ultra, you can hide your full screen, your notifications and your apps from all angles except the one you're seeing it from.

There is also new Ultra-fast, Ultra-long lasting charge which can power up to 75% in 30 minutes.

Plus, as we've come to expect from Samsung, the new Ultra is fast, using their most powerful processer yet – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 – to help the phone pack a serious punch. This combined with a 19% improved CPU and a 36% faster NPU means whether you need that for gaming, work, design or just streaming your favourite show, it's sure to run smoothly.

What is the new Samsung Intuitive AI?

Samsung has also upped the abilities of its AI systems to make it feel more straightforward and user-friendly. For instance, Now Nudge can give you timely and relevant suggestions like if a friend asks for photos from a recent trip, the S26 automatically suggests photos from the gallery, or if you get a message about a meeting, the S26 can recognize related calendar entries and check for conflicts.

Plus, Circle to Search is now built with enhanced multi-object recognition, so users can explore multiple parts of an image at once. If users spot a look they love, the feature also identifies everything from the jacket to the shoes, all in one search.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: Is it worth the upgrade?

As usual that depends on your priorities. While the Samsung S25 Ultra and S26 Ultra share a lot of similarities – including display size and strong AI features – the latest model has seen a lot of upgrades when it comes to the camera – now brighter and clearer than ever before – and the faster processing speed. So, if photography or gaming is what you're after we'd definitely suggest going after the S26 range.

Plus, the S25 Ultra was pretty tame when it came to colours, only the Samsung exclusives of pink and jade green offered variety, meanwhile the violet and sky blue colours of this year's range give you more to choose from.

Right now the S25 Ultra isn't that much cheaper than the S26, so for the sake of £30 you may as well grab the newer model. However, there are some favourable deals on the S25 Ultra coming out from UK mobile networks, like £26 a month from O2, and there may be more to come as the S26 range sells. So, if you just want to get a high quality phone that still has a top of the range camera and AI systems, you won't notice too much of a difference with the S25.

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