Update | iPhone 18 Pro Max appears in official Samsung promo with display upgrade

Notebookcheck has received the following statement from a Samsung representative:

The reference suggesting that Samsung Display may have “leaned into what its own supply chain is already seeing” could be interpreted as implying access to, or sharing of, confidential customer product information.

Please note that Samsung Display strictly manages all customer-related information, and under no circumstances shares or infers details regarding one customer’s products — regardless of whether they are internal or external partners.

Original article continues as follows:

The Privacy Display is a key selling point of the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and Samsung has been boasting about it since launch. In a newly spotted promotional video, the company shows off this feature by highlighting that Apple has yet to offer anything similar.

As for the Apple phone Samsung used for the comparison, it appears to be the unreleased iPhone 18 Pro Max, with a smaller Dynamic Island. Of course, there are different versions of the same video.

Samsung's Korean social media account on X has compared the Galaxy S26 Ultra with the iPhone 17 Pro Max to showcase the Privacy Display feature. The brand's Malaysian Facebook account, on the other hand, has switched the Apple phone for something that somewhat matches what the rumors are stating about the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

For reference, previous reports from various sources, including some credible ones, suggested that the iPhone 18 Pro series will feature a Dynamic Island that's around 35% smaller than the one on current-gen phones. In the video, however, the cutout appears even smaller than what current rumors suggest. Seeing the newly spotted promo video, Digital Chat Station, a prolific leaker, reports that the current supply chain status is pointing towards A/B testing.

Digital Chat Station adds that among the two options being considered by Apple, one features the same display design. As for the other, it reportedly has a smaller Dynamic Island.

Getting back to the promotional video, it's not clear why Samsung has posted two versions. However, it's worth noting that the Korean version, which features the iPhone 17 Pro Max, was posted first, on February 26, 2026. The one from the Malaysian account that compared the S26 Ultra (512 GB curr. $1,299.99 on Amazon) with the unreleased iPhone 18 Pro Max appeared sometime in March 2026.

It's also worth noting that Samsung Display is a major supplier of OLED panels for iPhones. So, as the company created two different versions, it's possible that the phone in question is indeed the iPhone 18 Pro Max, and Samsung may have simply leaned into what its own supply chain is already seeing. Then again, this may just be an error in regional promo assets.