I was tempted to write a headline with one irritating pun or another, something about this deal on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra being out of this world or good enough to make you see stars, but in deferential honor of the Artemis II astronauts who splash down in the Pacific off the coast of San Diego, I’ll exercise some restraint.

And let’s be honest; it’s a damn good deal at $1,080. That’s $221 off its retail price and the first time I’ve seen it on sale since Samsung introduced it in February 2026. But out of this world? I’ll save that hyperbole for something more befitting four heroic astronauts. Or the next 30-percent-off deal that floats across my desk. You know, whichever.

a price coming back down to earth

See, I made it all the way below the product card before I gave into temptation and winged a pithy subhead into the clouds. The regular Galaxy S26 is also on its best-ever sale right now for $800. That’s $100 off its retail price of $900, which makes it a fine sale, although nothing to faint over. Weigh the two smartphones in question against each other, though. The Galaxy S26 at $800 or the Galaxy S26 Ultra at $1,079.

It’s not nothing, that price difference. But the gap between Samsung’s bread-and-butter premium Galaxy and the top-end Ultra is shrunken significantly for the moment. If you were on the fence over which to get, or if you just view this as a pleasantly unexpected opportunity to upgrade to Samsung’s highest-spec smartphone, a gap of $279 isn’t insurmountable.

The Ultra provides a larger screen at 6.9 inches measured diagonally, compared to its little sibling’s 6.3 inches. Both displays are otherwise the same. The Ultra includes a stylus called the S-pen, which you can use to scribble notes on the screen by hand or doodle digital pictures. It also boosts the main camera’s megapixels from 50 to 200, and the ultra-wide lens’ from 12 megapixels to 50.

One of the most talked-up features introduced on the Ultra is Privacy Display, which prevents people from reading your screen at an angle. All they’ll see when it’s turned on is a blank, shadowy slate of solid black.

It marries a piece of hardware integrated into the screen, which Samsung calls Flex Magic Pixel. You can turn the effect on or off in the Samsung’s settings menu. Once on, you’re able to see your screen when facing it head on, but strangers and friends alike won’t be able to peek over your shoulder or crane their necks to view it from the side.

Just, you know, don’t be weird about what you use Privacy Display for. You’re still presumably around people when you’re using it, so just be cool. You weirdo.