Samsung's Privacy Display is seemingly 'better' at privacy than rivals, but at what cost?

Samsung was the first Android brand to incorporate a Privacy Display, starting with its flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra earlier this year. Other Android brands have now caught up, with the HUAWEI Mate XT 2 and the Xiaomi 18 Pro series introducing their own spins on the Privacy Display. Despite the feature’s proliferation, it seems Samsung will still hold on to its crown as the most private Privacy Display implementation.

Leaker and display enthusiast Ice Universe said on X that Samsung’s hardware implementation for Privacy Display remains the private solution currently on the market, outperforming rival solutions from both HUAWEI and Xiaomi. The crux of Samsung’s advantage lies in its ability to hide content from the top and bottom, as well as the sides, whereas HUAWEI and Xiaomi can only hide content from the sides.

As Ice Universe suggests, HUAWEI and Xiaomi’s Privacy Display implementations seem to target only the horizontal axis, with left- and right-side blocking by baffles, which does stop side-lookers on public transit. However, Samsung’s implementation appears to take a more comprehensive approach by limiting visibility along the vertical axis as well through the adoption of four-way baffles.

However, this aggressive protection comes with its own drawbacks. Ice Universe notes that the S26 Ultra suffers from noticeable viewing-angle degradation when the feature is actively engaged. The display loses off-axis brightness and image clarity, an inevitable and inherent trade-off of its Privacy Display tech. Some users have also experienced eye strain, nausea, and other symptoms when using the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Though to be fair, HUAWEI’s phone is too new (and expensive) for widespread reports to emerge, while Xiaomi’s phone hasn’t even launched yet, so it remains to be seen how consumers react to the Privacy Display tech on them.

The Xiaomi 18 Pro series also offers more software features for its Privacy Display, such as voice-command activation, location triggers, and front-camera shoulder-surfer detection. So while Samsung beats others with its aggressive tech, Xiaomi and HUAWEI are choosing a middle ground that balances privacy with convenience. Hopefully, Samsung will also consider adopting some of these changes for its second generation of Privacy Display tech.

Keep in mind that all of these are Ice Universe’s claims. We haven’t independently verified how the three Privacy Display features differ, or whether HUAWEI and Xiaomi’s implementations suffer from display quality degradation.