If ranking the release in terms of exciting new features, the Samsung Galaxy S25 launch ranks pretty low. It doesn’t make it a bad phone, but with how close it is to last year’s model, it’s hardly daring and new. We sure miss the days when Samsung was eager to experiment.
Well, it looks like that time might be on the horizon. The latest rumor about the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is still a full year away from release, is that it might be following the example that the Galaxy Z Fold has set with its under-display selfie camera, and that would be rather exciting.
A New Rumor Points to Samsung Considering an Under-Display Selfie Camera for the S26 Ultra
We’ve mostly reached what I’d call an equilibrium point for screens on smartphones. They take up almost all of the front of the phone, with the only parts that aren’t actually the display being thin bezels (which are getting even thinner) and the punch-hole selfie camera that most phones in the mid-range and flagship segments opt for.
As I mentioned, bezels are getting thinner, so manufacturers are trying to squeeze out as much as they can from there. However, despite the first phone with an under-display selfie camera launching in 2020, there are very few devices that opt for the tech—mostly because of the inferior photo quality. They’re the obvious solution to the aesthetic issue that current selfie cameras present, though.
The most notable phone with an under-display selfie camera is the Galaxy Z Fold 6 (and its predecessors). It looks like for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung will tap into that DNA. According to a tweet by kro_roe on X, the display prototype for the next S series flagship doesn’t have a camera hole. It’s a prototype, though, and the series is still far, so a lot can change before then. However, it’d be exciting to see Samsung try something different.
Samsung Seems Set to Try a Lot Different with the S26 Family
When I heard the rumor regarding the under-display camera, I have to say I wasn’t too shocked. In isolation, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that Samsung would do since they’re not necessarily the quickest adopters of new tech. However, there are other S26 series leaks that we’ve heard, and paired with those, it looks like the S26 phones might be the ones to wait for.
For one, it’s rumored that those devices are going to finally adopt silicon-carbon battery technology, which will allow for thinner batteries with the same capacity. That means that the South Korean OEM can finally push past that 5,000mAh roadblock it’s been stuck at for the last several years.
On top of that, it also seems like the company is finally going to move to a higher charging speed, which is something we’ve been waiting for for about half a decade now. The exact number that’s being rumored is 65W. That’s hardly at the same level as what competitors out of China are doing, but for Samsung, it is certainly a very welcome upgrade.
