Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra rumors — release, display upgrades and everything we know so far
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The Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra is coming, and it could be arriving sooner than you think. The big phone launches of 2026 are effectively over, now that the new iPhones are out of the way, and that means we can start looking at what major releases 2027 will have to offer.
Samsung is usually the first out of the gate, and rumor has it that the launch will be a little earlier than we're used to — suggesting a January release window. The Unpacked event is also said to include four new Galaxy S27-series phones, with a Pro model set to join the usual lineup. But, as ever, the Galaxy S27 Ultra is set to be the star of the show, with all the latest and best hardware Samsung has to offer.
Here's everything we know about the Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra so far.
Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra (rumored)
Display
6.9-inches
Processor
Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6
Storage
256/512/1TB
RAM
12/16GB
Front Camera
12MP
Rear Cameras
200MP main, 50MP ultrawide, 50MP telephoto with 4x or 5x optical zookm
Battery
5,700 mAh
Charging
60W
Size
163.76 x 78.25 x 7.97mm (6.44 x 3.0 x 0.31 inches)
We're not expecting any major changes to the size of the Galaxy S27 Ultra, and recently-leaked dummy units suggest that the dimensions of the upcoming phone will be very similar to those of the Galaxy S26 Ultra . And by very similar, I mean practically identical, with only a fraction of a millimeter's difference in width and thickness.
However, the big changes are set to happen on the back of the phone. Samsung is widely expected to ditch the vertical camera array of past Galaxy phones, in favor of a full-width camera bar — similar to that of the iPhone 18 Pro. This change is also supposed to come with the loss of the secondary telephoto lens, and turn the Ultra model into a triple-lens camera for the first time.
It's also been rumored that Samsung may finally employ an M16 OLED display on the S27 Ultra. This display is set to be brighter, and is the same material used on the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo . There are also rumors that the Ultra will feature "enhanced display brightness" to counteract the dimming caused by the Privacy Display.
As useful as the feature is, we found that it caused a loss of display brightness even when the Privacy Display setting is deactivated. So it's good to see that Samsung is proactively dealing with that issue with the next generation Privacy Display. The Privacy feature is also rumored to be getting some upgrades, but it's unclear what those might actually be.
Recently-leaked dummy units also suggest that the Ultra will retain its built-in S Pen, and rumor has it that Qi2 magnets will finally be added to the phone itself. That means no more having to buy special magnetic cases to make the most out of using Qi2 chargers and accessories. However, this feature may be exclusive to the Ultra and Pro models, with the Standard and Plus options missing out.
The one thing that isn't a mystery is the S27 Ultra's performance hardware. We assumed the phone would come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 , and a recent leak seemingly confirmed that. Not that it was ever doubted that Samsung would opt for the most powerful Qualcomm chip on the market. The only real question we have is whether the phone will have a standard Extreme chip, or if a custom "for Galaxy" variant will be developed to offer stronger performance.
Our own early tests of the Extreme , using Qualcomm's reference device, reveal that the chip performed 29% better in Geekbench 7's single-core benchmark, and 16.3% better in the multi-core test. 3DMark's Solar Bay Extreme test shows a 49% increase in graphical power, or a 40% increase in Wildlife Extreme. Meanwhile AnTuTu's General AI benchmark showed an 18.4% increase, or a crazy 118% increase in AnTuTu's LLM AI test.
Obviously things are going to be a little different in a commercial phone, rather than a reference device that's built to perform well. But it shows just how much of an improvement we should see when the Galaxy S27 Ultra arrives next year. Needless to say this is going to be a powerful phone with a lot of AI capabilities.
Very little is known about the Galaxy S27 Ultra's cameras right now, other than the fact Samsung is seemingly scrapping the secondary telephoto lens . This means the Ultra model will match other premium phones with a single zooming lens, which we assume will still be the same 50MP lens with 5x optical magnification we saw on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
While that news may be disappointing to some, it's not a huge loss. The second telephoto lens was always fairly underpowered, with the last iteration offering 10MP of resolution and 3x optical zoom. The quality wasn't bad, but it also wasn't really a necessary feature to have. Particularly since telephoto lenses are expensive, hence why they're mostly found on premium phones, and take up a lot of space. Removing the second one adds extra space to the S27 Ultra, and hopefully helps avoid another price hike.
This would be the perfect time for Samsung to add variable optical zoom, which has been rumored for a few years and effectively squeezes two telephoto lenses into one. Sadly it's unclear whether that will actually happen, and the same is true for the possibility of getting variable aperture — a feature Samsung last offered in 2019.
Rumors instead suggest that the telephoto may drop to 4x magnification, with a larger 1/1.9-inch sensor to compensate. However, there are conflicting reports , and the S27 Ultra may instead just get the exact same zooming lens as the S26 Ultra.
We know software is going to be a huge part of the Samsung Galaxy S27 series, as it has been for the last few generations of Galaxy phones. Galaxy AI is one of those things that isn't going to vanish overnight, though at this early stage we have absolutely no idea what sort of features and capabilities will be coming to the S27 Ultra and its cohorts.
One possibility is the addition of MyFanCam, an AI-powered feature that debuted on the Galaxy Z Fold 8 . It works with existing footage that you've filmed, and uses AI to focus on a person of your choice. There's no reason why it couldn't exist on a Galaxy S phone, and the S27 launch is the perfect place to do it — especially if it has some much-needed upgrades, like the ability to focus on animals as well. We should also expect the phones to run on OneUI 9, possibly the updated OneUI 9.5, which is based on Android 17.
But, for the time being, any additional software and AI upgrades on the S27 Ultra are a complete mystery.
The release of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 saw Samsung finally embrace silicon carbon batteries. The main benefit is that the increased energy density means you can include more battery capacity without increasing the actual physical dimensions of the battery. This allows for larger batteries that aren't physically larger, and don't increase the size and weight of phones by any significant amount.
Leaks suggest that Samsung will be adopting the same technology in the Galaxy S27 Ultra, increasing the size of the battery from 5,000 mAh to 5,700 mAh . That's quite an upgrade, considering Galaxy Ultra phones have been stuck at 5,000 mAh for the past six years, though whether it will help the S27 Ultra climb the ranks of our best phone battery life page isn't clear yet. We'll need to wait and see how it performs during battery life testing.
Furthermore, it's unclear whether charging speed will change at all, considering the S26 Ultra upped the ante from 45W wired charging to 60W . However the rumored inclusion of Qi2 magnetic charging means that wireless charging should be much easier — even if it doesn't happen any faster.
There's still a lot we don't know about the Galaxy S27 Ultra, but so far we're hearing about some promising things. Sure, the loss of a camera lens might be disappointing to some, but we are still getting some positive changes. A larger battery is something Galaxy users have been demanding for years, and the inclusion of Qi2 magnets means that Samsung is now on par with Apple and Google in the wireless charging game.
On top of that, we have the possibility of a brighter display, which takes the Privacy Display into account, and performance that should be some of the best you can get on any smartphone. The redesign is... interesting. It's clearly iPhone-inspired, which is both good and bad, and while people may not like the change I think it's good to see Samsung mix things up a bit.
There is still plenty of time for new information to leak, and that means we'll start getting a more complete picture of what the Galaxy S27 Ultra has to offer as the weeks and months roll on. Until the inevitable January Unpacked, where Samsung reveals the whole lineup in full. But until then, be sure to check back here for all the latest news and rumors about the upcoming flagships.