2027 is set to be a big year for Galaxy phones, with leaks pointing towards Samsung offering four new phones instead of the usual three. No, Samsung isn't resurrecting the short-lived "Edge" line, rumors and leaks actually suggest we'll see a Galaxy S27 Pro instead.
This phone is expected to sit somewhere between the Galaxy S27 Plus and the ultra-premium Galaxy S27 Ultra. Considering the gap between the Plus and Ultra models has been closing in recent years, that's a bit of an awkward spot. So how is the Galaxy S27 Pro going to make itself stand out from its cohorts?
Here are five key ways the Galaxy S27 Pro stands apart from the S27 Ultra, and two similarities both phones reportedly share.
How they differ
It's got a smaller screen
Samsung's flagships have a lot of similarities, but screen size is not one of them. The three models we see every year all have different dimensions, and it seems like the Galaxy S27 Pro will be following that pattern. According to information from regulatory databases, the phone will come with a 6.5-inch display.
This means it'll sit between the 6.3-inch S27 and 6.7-inch S27 Plus, with a screen that's almost half an inch smaller than the 6.9-inch Galaxy S27 Ultra. This means that the S27 Pro should have a distinct look compared to the S27 Ultra, and that could be enticing for those that want premium phone features without having to pick the largest model.
It's going to be less powerful
Those same databases point towards the S27 Pro coming with less powerful hardware than the S27 Ultra. The Ultra is expected to come with the newly-announced Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 system on chip, which offers major improvements to computing, graphics and AI processing.
The S27 Pro, on the other hand, is tipped to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. model. We don't know what sort of performance to expect from the moderate variant of the Gen 6 chip, other than the fact it's a step above the Gen 5 chip currently in circulation. But don't expect it to be as powerful as the Extreme version.
However we are still assuming that Samsung will employ custom "for Galaxy" variants of both chips, which offer better performance than the non-Galaxy variant. So that should hopefully still give the Pro a nice performance boost.
Don't expect the S Pen
One of the major selling points for the Galaxy S27 Ultra is the inclusion of the S Pen, which slots into the base of the phone whenever you're not using it. Sadly it sounds like the S27 Pro will not feature this particular feature, and potentially makes it far less useful as a productivity device.
My guess is that part of the reason Samsung hasn't added a built-in S Pen is because the S27 Pro is a much smaller device and there's less internal space to store it. It's unclear whether the phone will support a standalone S Pen stylus, as was the case with Galaxy S21 Ultra and various Z Fold devices. But I'm guessing that this won't happen, and those people wanting the S Pen will have to pay out for the Ultra model.
The telephoto camera won't be as good
Samsung's Ultra phones are known for their powerful telephoto lenses, a trend that will apparently continue with the S27 Ultra getting a 50MP lens capable of 5x optical magnification. Meanwhile the S27 Pro is rumored to offer a zooming lens with considerably less resolution and lower optical magnification.
The most common rumor suggests that the Pro will feature a 12MP telephoto lens capable of 3x optical magnification. That's noticeably less than the Ultra, but still higher than the 10MP telephoto lenses we've seen on the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus.
However there has also been a rumor that claims the Pro will feature a 50MP camera with 3.5x optical zoom. Obviously those potential specs are very different, and would help the Pro stand apart from the standard and Plus models. That said, whichever way you look at it, the Ultra will have the superior zooming camera hardware.
The battery is smaller
Rumor has it that Samsung will be utilizing silicon carbon batteries in the S27 series, including the S27 Ultra and the S27 Pro. Effectively offering greater battery capacity without increasing the size and weight of the phones by a meaningful degree. However, leaks suggest that the S27 Pro will have the smaller battery of the two, with 5,200 mAh to the Ultra's 5,700 mAh.
Don't get me wrong, that's still larger than the 5,000 mAh battery in the Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, it does mean that the Pro may not have as much power to work with as the Ultra model. Whether that will matter in the long run, on account of the smaller screen and less powerful chips, isn't clear — and only hands-on battery testing can answer that question.
How they're similar
It looks like both phone will have a 200MP camera
The S27 Pro's telephoto lens may not be quite as impressive as the S27 Ultra's, but the main camera is gearing up to be more or less the same. Both phones are rumored to have a 200MP main camera, which has become a staple part of the Ultra series in the Galaxy Z and Galaxy Z lineups.
We're not too sure whether the cameras will be identical, though. It's possible that there will be some variations in things like sensor size or aperture, but that doesn't change the fact that the Pro is gearing up to offer the same high-resolution photography as its larger sibling.
It's getting a Privacy Display too
The Privacy Display is easily one of the best things about the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and word is that Samsung will be fixing one of the biggest flaws on the S27 series. Specifically the fact that it dims the screen, even when the Privacy Display is switched off. Oh, and it won't be exclusive to the Ultra model this time round.
The S27 Pro is also expected to get a Privacy Display, paired with the brighter M16 OLED display panel. We don't know a lot about whether the Privacy Display may change next year, aside from the brightness thing. But it's good to see that Samsung isn't keeping an important security feature paywalled on its most expensive device.
Maybe one day we'll even see Privacy Display on a phone that doesn't cost over $1,000.
It should have the same charging speeds
The final similarity between these two phones is that the Pro should have the same charging capabilities as the S27 Ultra. By which I mean 60W wired charging and 25W Qi2 magnetic charging. That's right, Samsung will apparently add magnets to its phones next year, but word is that only the Ultra and Pro models will get that particular upgrade.
Bottom line: What is the Pro for?
So far it seems as though the Galaxy S27 Pro is going to be a middle-ground for the ultra-premium market. It offers a lot more than the standard S27 and S27 Plus, but in a smaller form factor than the S27 Ultra. It looks like there will be some compromises made to account for that size change, but not to the same extreme as other options.
The only real question is how much you'll have to pay for one. Samsung's prices have gone up a lot over the course of this year, and rumor is that the S27 series will also suffer a price hike. Which means the S27 Ultra may be extremely expensive, which is likely to put a bunch of people off buying it. That would mean the Pro is effectively the middle-ground option, offering high-end features but at a slightly cheaper and more reasonable price point. Though I still wouldn't expect it to be a "cheap" option.
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