My many years of tech reviewing has left me in the privileged position of being able to use most of the latest and greatest smartphones, pretty much from the moment they're launched - sometimes even before.

These days some of these devices can cost thousands and quite understandably, most people wouldn't dream of handing over that kind of cash for a phone, even if they can afford it.

That's why I also try and sample more budget-friendly devices - and I've often been surprised just how capable under $1000 handsets can be.

So it wasn't completely out of the blue when Samsung suggested I compare the latest offerings from each end of its 2026 range.

In fact, on price alone, the two phones I'm comparing today really couldn't be further apart. The Galaxy A17 5G is NZ$399.00 while the Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at NZ$2,549.00.

Today I'll be focusing more on the S26 Ultra than the A17 because... well... there's no easy way to say this; I found the A17 to be unusable.

Let me explain.

My usual method for reviewing any device is to unpack it, set it up and use it in my every day life, just as I would if I'd gone out and bought it myself.

With phones, this means adding both my work and personal email accounts, syncing my social media, music and podcast apps and even linking the camera roll to backup automatically to my cloud storage service.

Or at least, that's what I usually do. That's certainly what I did with the S26 Ultra - just as I have done with many generations of Ultra before it - and if I'm going to be completely honest, that process was so smooth and effortless it was almost boring. Especially given that on the face of it, not much has changed with this year's flagship Samsung handset. But we'll come to that.

Setting up the A17, on the other hand, was a mission. To begin with, although it has a dual SIM tray - which is useful if you run separate business and personal numbers or you do a lot of travelling - there's no eSIM option, which is what I use.

No matter, I thought. It's not like I can use the same number on two phones at once anyway. At least I can load up all my usual apps, connect to my smartwatch and other bluetooth devices and...

I got as far as using Samsung's SmartSwitch app to copy my settings, apps and other data to the A17 from my personal device and then I set about trying to log in to the various places I would need to, to go about my daily business.

But I couldn't. And here's why; although the A17 5G has a big battery and a triple-sensor primary camera setup - including a 50MP main wide lens - the phone itself is so underpowered in terms of RAM and processing ability, it's impossible to use.

The large, 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen might be good - Samsung claims a "fluid" 90Hz refresh rate - I wouldn't know, because every time I tried to do something there was such a delay, I'd give up and move on to something else, only to have the original function start working several seconds later, just confusing things even more.

And I'm talking about basic functionality, as I'll demonstrate in the video below. Just swiping from the top to pull down the notification or quick access windows seemed too much of an effort for this phone so no, I didn't even get up to testing the Optical Image Stabilisation that is now built into the camera but I fear, much like the boast of being able to use Gemini Live for its AI abilities, the effort and frustration wouldn't be worth the result.

It's 5G capable but if you were hoping this was the 3G replacement you needed for nana, take my advice, spend another few hundred dollars and get an exponentially more user-friendly experience.

Or...

Spend a few THOUSAND more and get one of the best phones available in the world right now.

Even though, as I hinted at earlier, not much has changed between the 2025 Ultra and today's - it was the hottest handset around then and most of the competition are still playing catchup.

And besides, some things HAVE changed, if not obviously so.

The S26 Ultra is thinner and lighter than ever and it's cooler too, thanks to Samsung's biggest vapour chamber yet.

As you'd expect, the processor is faster, more powerful and more efficient - although you might've expected that from the A17 too, but it's the same chip as last year in that one. The S26 Ultra boasts significant performance improvements across the board - with the NPU, GPU and CPU. All the Us.

Actually, speaking of the Neural Processor, it almost goes without saying there are more A.I. tricks this handset can perform, although things have become quite confusing with Samsung's Galaxy AI revitalising its proprietary, on-device virtual assistant, Bixby, while delegating cloud-based A.I. functions to Google Gemini.

So... you want on-device translation? Or maybe just a timer or an alarm? Bixby's your man. Or woman. Or robot - whatever.

Meanwhile, when it comes to more connected requests like Circle to Search - which you can do with the S26 Ultra's on-board stylus, of course - that's more of a Gemini sort of a gig.

Both Gemini and Galaxy AI have excellent tools for photo and video editing so I guess it's a sort of two-robot-heads-are-better-than-one approach.

As far as photography goes, more broadly - there are noteworthy advances here too, with larger wide and telephoto sensors letting in more light for even better nighttime shooting, which is something the previous S25 Ultra wasn't too shabby at anyway. There's also now a Horizontal Lock mode which effectively turns your phone into an action camera, using the built-in gyros to sense gravity and keep your shots level, even if you're rolling down a hill backwards.

The headline upgrade for the Ultra this year is a feature called Privacy Display. You may have come across physical privacy screens before. These are aftermarket addons that keep people nearby from being able to see what's on your phone - not just a privacy measure but potentially a security issue, when you're typing in passwords or managing payment details. These external screens not only add bulk to your device but can affect image quality too.

Samsung's approach is far more elegant - it's built into the panel itself. You can activate Privacy Display manually and even set it up to work for specific apps and not others - including their notifications. Genius. 

Oh, and the S26 Ultra comes in a nice purple colour called Cobalt Violet, along with a choice of five other more subtle shades.

I still appreciate the fact that the onboard stylus, the famous S-Pen, is still on board - even though I hardly ever use it. I've seen people with medical conditions that affect their fine-motor-skills use the S-Pen to control their phone because it's more accurate than their shaky digits. Accessibility rules.

So I apologise. This wasn't much of a comparison after all. I simpply didn't have the patience to set up the A17 properly - but then, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't either. In fact, you shouldn't.

On the other hand, if you want the best Android chip available, in one of the world's smartest phones, with a sneaky display no-one else can read, the Ultra, as usual, will not disappoint.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy A17 5G.