At Samsung’s Galaxy S26 live event on Wednesday, the company introduced a new display technology that allows users to turn on a privacy mode and prevent so-called “shoulder surfing” on a per-app basis. The display tech will offer a smarter and more flexible alternative to privacy films, which are overlaid on top of a smartphone’s screen to limit viewing unless you’re looking directly at the phone.
As Samsung pointed out, these traditional privacy films come with trade-offs — like dimmer screens or more difficulties when you’re trying to show someone else something on your phone.
Its solution is a new display technology for mobile devices that uses two different types of pixels: narrow pixels and wide pixels. This architecture, which Samsung dubbed Black Matrix, will narrow the path of light emitted from each pixel to precisely control the light visible to you when the privacy mode is enabled. When it’s turned off, a widened standard pixel works with the narrow pixels to deliver the light in every direction.
The Privacy Display feature is also customizable, so you can set certain apps or notifications to trigger privacy mode, while others are viewed normally. For instance, you could set your messaging app or banking app to always be displayed in a private mode, but leave it off for other apps where privacy is less of a concern. This flexibility also extends to notifications, essentially blacking out certain alerts when viewed from a side angle.
Samsung says there’s also a setting for “maximum privacy protection,” which intensifies the privacy effect further by bringing down the bright areas and lifting the darker ones.
The new display will initially be available on the high-end Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphone, which also includes support for upgraded and faster AI and a custom chipset.
The privacy screen was demoed live on stage during the event Wednesday, with creator Miles Franklin (of MilesAboveTech) showing the technology in action. In the demo, the feature appeared to work as advertised, including for smaller elements on the screen like specific notifications.
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The company had teased the technology ahead of Wednesday’s event, but hadn’t yet explained how it would work. It noted that the feature would work with specific apps, protecting users when they enter PINs, patterns, or passcodes.
