Samsung is investigating reports that some Galaxy S26 Ultra screens have developed a red cast in the middle, a flaw users say is appearing on phones already in use. A Samsung spokesperson said the company is “currently examining the matter internally to confirm the cause.”
The issue is drawing attention now because owners have posted images of the discoloration on social media and on Samsung's community forum, turning a complaint into a visible test of a premium display feature. Andy Boxall, who reviewed the Galaxy S26 Ultra and gave it an 8/10, had already flagged the phone's screen as one of its oddest elements, saying it emulates 10-bit color performance but is actually 8-bit.
The most obvious question is whether the Privacy Display is behind the red cast. That feature is designed to make the screen harder to view from the side by dimming pixels on the edges and boosting them in the center, which means the very part meant to preserve privacy could also be the place where the color shift shows up. Boxall said the flicker he noticed was likely tied either to that emulation or to the Privacy Display technology itself.
There is still no proof that the Privacy Display is the cause, and there is also no evidence yet that something else in the hardware or software is responsible. Boxall's review had already pointed to three controversies around the phone, including the switch from the periscope telephoto to a 50-megapixel camera used for 5x zoom shots and the display's unusual color behavior. The new complaints now put those separate concerns in one place: a flagship phone with a display feature meant to improve privacy, and a discoloration that users say is hard to ignore.
Samsung's internal review will have to answer whether the red cast is a defect in the Privacy Display itself or a different problem entirely. Until it does, Galaxy S26 Ultra owners are left with a premium phone that is still being judged on whether its screen can do the one thing every buyer expects it to do cleanly: show the picture as it should be seen.
