A recent teardown of Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra suggests the company has introduced several internal engineering changes aimed at improving heat management, even though the phone’s external design remains largely familiar.

The disassembly, published by the YouTube channel PBKreviews, shows that Samsung has implemented a layered thermal system inside its flagship device. The approach combines several different cooling materials working together to help manage heat generated by the phone’s high-performance processor.

Inside the Galaxy S26 Ultra, four separate components contribute to temperature control. A vapour chamber spreads heat across a wider area of the device, while graphite sheets help disperse that heat throughout the internal frame. Thermal pads assist with transferring heat between components, and thermal paste improves heat conduction from the processor to the surrounding cooling structure.

The inclusion of thermal paste is particularly notable because the technique is more commonly associated with desktop computers and laptops. In those devices it is used to improve the transfer of heat from a processor to a heatsink. Applying a similar method in a smartphone, where internal space is extremely limited, could help reduce temperatures during demanding activities such as gaming or video editing.

High-end smartphones continue to push processing power further each year, which places increasing pressure on cooling systems. The Galaxy S26 Ultra runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor, a chip designed to support intensive tasks including gaming and artificial intelligence workloads.

Effective thermal management is important for maintaining stable performance during these activities. If temperatures rise too high, devices can automatically reduce performance to protect internal components.

The teardown also highlighted design choices that may make the phone easier to repair than many competing models. The device includes a pull tab that simplifies battery removal, while components such as the haptic motor, cameras and speakers appear to be modular, allowing them to be replaced individually.

Based on the teardown assessment, the Galaxy S26 Ultra received a repairability score of nine out of ten, indicating that many internal components can be accessed and replaced without excessive difficulty.