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There are countless reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra out there, and they will tell you that it’s a brilliant phone. The camera is exceptional, it’s blisteringly fast and everything about it screams quality. This is all true. Here, I’m going to focus on its strengths and very occasional weaknesses as a business phone.
There are three key elements that mark out a Galaxy Enterprise Edition phone from its regular counterpart:
While the YouTube video above is clearly promotional, it’s well worth watching if you need to manage dozens, hundreds of even thousands of devices. For the West Midlands Police, the number is in the thousands – they have Samsung phones in the pockets of every officer.
Knox Suite allows them to roll out updates, check issues such as non-charging phones and enroll new users. In the video, they mention that enrolment now takes around 15 minutes compared to three hours previously.
This problem will be familiar to anyone who uses MDM (mobile device management) software, and it’s worth noting that you may be able to integrate Samsung’s tools with your existing MDM tool. Or use Knox Manage, part of the Knox Suite.
Another key aspect of Knox Suite is obviously security. Data protection comes via encryption, you can remote lock lost devices (you can also erase data), a secure Wi-Fi feature encrypts information over public Wi-Fi, and there’s Knox Vault to protect key info (such as biometrics and passwords) via a security chip built into the device.
As standard, Samsung Galaxy phones come with a single year of warranty. Buy a Galaxy Enterprise Edition phone and you get three years of cover, with the promise of country-based technical support.
Samsung also provides a next-business-day replacement service, where they will replace your faulty phone with a refurbished but good as new device (Samsung calls it Gold Stock). If you book the issue before 2pm, the phone will be delivered to you the next business day.
Note this doesn’t include accidental damage, but luckily the S26 Ultra is so well built that I’m reasonably confident it will survive the occasional drop. It’s IP68 rated, so can easily survive time underwater, and includes Samsung’s Armor aluminium 2 frame and Corning Gorilla Glass Armor 2 on the front.
Anecdotally, I can assure it’s built like a a proverbial brickhouse too.
The final “bonus” of Enterprise Edition is the extended product lifecycle. That means “up to seven years of firmware updates either monthly or quarterly”, according to Samsung.
So far as I can tell, this isn’t actually better than consumers are offered with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as this already comes with the promise of seven years of security and Android updates. But if you’re mixing and matching phones then it may be useful; Samsung’s Galaxy A series phones only come with six years of support, and other phones may have less.
I’ve been using the S26 Ultra as my daily phone for a month, so I’ve come to appreciate its many strengths as a business phone. Here are my top six picks.
Don’t want people sitting next to you on the train to see what you’re looking at? Then activate the S26 Ultra’s unique feature: the Privacy Display. And Samsung really has done a terrific job here – in real life, it works exactly as shown in this video below
I love how snugly the S Pen stylus slides into the S26 Ultra’s frame. I doubt you’ll even think about it until it’s time to annotate a document, scribble a note or quickly sign a document. It’s one of the main reasons I would consider rolling out the Galaxy S26 Ultra to business users, particularly sales people who need to get people to sign on the dotted line there and then.
There are many cheaper phones that include large, high-quality screens, so this alone isn’t a reason to buy the S26 Ultra. However, I found its sharpness and viewability – particularly under strong sunlight – to be a big aid when I needed to zoom into a document. I can imagine architects really appreciating this in the field.
Taking high-quality photos and videos may seem better suited to consumers than businesses, but we’re all content capturers these days. Even if you only need to zoom into a presentation to read it back later, it’s useful to have the 3x optical lens of the S26 Ultra. I also appreciated that no matter what conditions I shot in, day or night, the photos emerged with great clarity.
Samsung naturally puts the fastest available processor inside this is its flagship phone, and as a result the S26 Ultra shines in benchmarks. But this isn’t merely a chest-thumping, nice thing to have. It means the phone should run smoothly for the seven years of its life. Which brings me to the final business-friendly feature to highlight…
If you’re British or Irish, chances are you’ve played conkers. If not, just imagine schoolkids swinging horse chestnuts and seeing whose breaks apart first. I mention this because I think the S26 Ultra would win in any phone equivalent, it’s that well built. I’ve already mentioned the Armor Aluminium frame and Corning Gorilla Armor 2 glass on the front, but there’s even Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear. All of which means that your phone may actually last that seven years.
The chief negative is price. The S26 Ultra is already an expensive phone, and you can buy the plain S26 Ultra on contract from O2 Business in the UK for £36 per month. The Enterprise Edition costs £50.50 per month. I haven’t checked prices elsewhere in the world, but I suspect it’s similar.
However, that’s for a single phone. If you’re buying in volume, it’s worth contacting your local Samsung dealer (or Samsung direct via its website) to check for a price. I’m sure deals are to be had.
Another reason is bulk. If this is to be an employee’s second phone, they may not want something with such a large body that weighs over 200g.
But those are the only two things that count against it. This is a terrific phone for business use, offering peace of mind for the IT team that manages it and a cutting-edge experience for end users.
