Samsung’s top Android rival might copy Privacy Display, but will it be better?

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra debuted a Privacy Display feature earlier this year to deter shoulder surfers. We previously heard that other brands are working on similar functionality, and Samsung’s biggest Android rival is apparently working on this feature.

Tipster Yogesh Brar reports that Xiaomi is working on a Samsung-style Privacy Display feature. The leaker says it will debut as part of Xiaomi’s Hyper OS 4 update later this year.

The fact that this is apparently arriving as part of Hyper OS 4 suggests we’re looking at a software-based feature rather than Samsung’s hardware-based option. However, it’s also possible that Xiaomi is working on phones that actually have the requisite hardware for Privacy Display, and that HyperOS 4 will merely enable this hardware option. After all, we discovered Samsung’s Privacy Display feature in software before it made a physical appearance. But it certainly seems like this is a software-driven solution.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra uses Samsung screens with so-called Flex Magic Pixel technology. This allows the display’s pixels to physically move, therefore narrowing the screen’s viewing angle. Users can choose to narrow viewing angles for the entire screen or specific areas. This isn’t possible with a software approach, which leads me to believe Xiaomi might pull a BlackBerry. BlackBerry’s Android phones had a Privacy Shade feature that effectively blacked out all but a small, draggable area of the screen.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s display has come under fire as people found it was dimmer than the S25 Ultra’s screen and hurt their eyes. Colleague Zac Kew-Dennis also complained about the S26 Ultra’s screen brightness and eye strain. So a software-based solution might be less ambitious, but it’s theoretically unlikely to compromise brightness or eye health.

Another big advantage of a purely software-based approach is that Xiaomi could bring this feature to older phones via an OS upgrade. So you wouldn’t have to buy a new handset or a specific screen protector if you wanted to fight screen peekers. Either way, it looks like both approaches have their strengths and weaknesses.