News

Samsung Confirms Galaxy S26 Privacy Display Mode

A Settings leak showing built-in screen shielding and a glassy One UI refresh has been officially confirmed ahead of the next Galaxy flagship cycle.

Published

8 months ago

January 23, 2026

Nour Nasir

samsung confirms galaxy s26 privacy display mode

Samsung has effectively confirmed that the Galaxy S26 will ship with a built-in Privacy Display, a native mode that limits what people nearby can see on the screen.

The feature appeared this week inside official One UI 8.5 materials, where a dedicated toggle is visible in the settings menu. The listing follows earlier animations and leak reports, leaving little doubt it’s headed for the next flagship cycle.

If you still don’t have a clear idea of what the private screen on the Galaxy S26 Ultra is, just watch this video. Once you do, you’ll immediately understand why this is easily the most marketable feature of the S26 Ultra. pic.twitter.com/93uTzFAR5Y

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) January 15, 2026

Privacy Display works like a hardware filter, tightening viewing angles so content fades when seen from the side. Samsung describes it simply: “Prevent others from seeing what’s on your screen. Privacy display makes the screen less visible when viewed from a side angle. You can turn it on when you need it or set conditions for turning it on automatically”.

Similar tech has surfaced before. A video shot at Mobile World Congress showed Samsung’s Flex Magic Pixel prototype demonstrating the same effect.

Also Read: SIRBAI Unveils Autonomous Drone Swarm Technology At UMEX

One UI 8.5 also points to a broader visual shift, with more translucent panels and glass-like animations. The look mirrors Apple’s recent “Liquid Glass” push. For Samsung, it’s a practical upgrade and a design reset in one go — privacy baked into the display, not bolted on.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.