At Samsung’s Galaxy S26 live event on Wednesday, the company unveiled a new screen technology that lets users turn on privacy mode and prevent so-called “shoulder surfing” on a per-app basis. The screen technology will offer a smarter and more versatile alternative to privacy films, which are draped over 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 darker screens or more difficulty when trying to show someone else something on your phone.
Her solution is a new mobile display technology that uses two different types of pixels: narrow pixels and wide pixels. This architecture, which Samsung has dubbed Black Matrix, will limit the path of light emitted by each pixel to precisely control the light visible to you when privacy mode is on. When off, a widened standard pixel works with the narrow pixels to transmit light in every direction.
The Privacy Show feature is also customizable, so you can set certain apps or notifications to turn on privacy mode while others are displayed normally. For example, you could set your messaging app or banking app to always appear in 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 notifications when viewed from a side angle.
Samsung says there’s also a setting for “maximum privacy protection,” which further intensifies the privacy effect by dimming bright areas and lifting 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 demonstrated live on stage during the event on Wednesday, with creator Miles Franklin (of MilesAboveTech) showing the technology in action. In the demo, the feature appeared to work as advertised, including the smaller elements on the screen such as certain notifications.
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The company had teased the technology ahead of Wednesday’s event, but had yet to explain how it would work. He noted that the feature would work with specific apps, protecting users when they enter PINs, patterns or passwords.
