Will I upgrade? The Galaxy S26+ lives or dies on its display

Phones have reached a point where rapid innovation is rare. Yearly upgrades are mostly incremental, and designs look strikingly similar generation after generation.

In this climate, Samsung seems even more comfortable than Apple with the status quo. If anything, it’s taking fewer design risks than Apple these days.

I’ve accepted that slab-style phones probably won’t see a revolution anytime soon. As a Galaxy S Plus fan, that makes things feel particularly stagnant. Which brings me to the question: can the Galaxy S26+ do anything to entice me?

With designs mostly unchanged and performance gains no longer decisive, display quality has become one of the most important aspects of any flagship. At least for me.

I’m not a heavy mobile gamer, I don’t mind familiar designs, and I don’t use cameras all that often. Naturally, the display is the hardware component I care about the most nowadays.

Unfortunately, it may also be one of the most boring parts of the upcoming Galaxy S26+. Recent rumors suggest the phone will reuse the Galaxy S25+ panel, with the only change being a tweak to the screen protector layers. If true, display specs would remain virtually untouched.

I’ve backed the Galaxy S Plus lineup for years, but without a meaningful display bump since the S24+, it's hard to see how the S26+ could justify an upgrade for me as an S24+ user. Full Qi2 support sounds great, but not enough.

When I moved from the Galaxy S22+ to the Galaxy S24+ nearly two years ago, the brighter and better screen was one of the first things I loved. I hope the Galaxy S26+ can pull that off again.

And if brightness isn’t going beyond 2600 nits and matches my S24+ in that regard, then at the very least I’d like to see smarter display features. A few upgrades that could genuinely matter are:

The last one could be a game-changer, but rumors remain split on whether it will be Ultra-exclusive. If it is, the Galaxy S26+ risks becoming one of the most forgettable sequels for us Plus fans.