'This is a gimbal inside a smartphone' — Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Super Steady Horizontal Lock really can handle a 360-degree turn

While everyone is buzzing about Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra's impressive Privacy Display, I'm currently losing my mind over the upgraded Super Steady with Horizontal Lock video mode. It's essentially a digital gimbal inside your smartphone.

As advertised by Samsung and announced during Galaxy Unpacked in February 2026, this new mode, an upgrade from the previous motion-control Super Steady mode, can lock your video to a smooth, horizontal plane, even if you turn the camera a full 360 degrees.

Better yet, the feature doesn't require post-processing; you simply choose the setting, start shooting your subject, and move the camera as needed. The S26 Ultra's gyroscope and accelerometer track all movement, and then some clever, real-time image processing applies corrective adjustments to the video.

That all sounded pretty good, but I was anxious to try it out and, to be honest, it would be part of my final Galaxy S26 Ultra review, anyway.

I also wanted to be able to show the world proof that this works. You see, if I just shoot the video on the S26 Ultra while moving the camera all around and then upload it, all you'll see, I think, is smooth, horizontally correct video.

To prove this works, I set up my iPhone 17 Pro Max (which has its own "Action" video setting for motion control) on a tripod and made sure the Galaxy S26 Ultra was in full view. I filmed the S26 Ultra as I captured the Super Steady Horizontal Lock video.

As I filmed, I turned the S26 Ultra from side to side. Then I rotated it 180 degrees and finally spun it 360 degrees, all while shooting video.

To show the results, I combined the clips from the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the footage from the Galaxy S26 Ultra into a single, incredible TikTok.

The results are really shocking. I'm not saying the video doesn't move at all. It bounces around a little, but never tilts left or right, let alone turns over, even though I did turn the phone upside down.

Compare this to the iPhone 17 Pro Max's Action video setting, which is adept at smoothing out bumpy video, but if I turn the camera left, right, or tip it nearly 180-degrees, that is reflected in the final video.

I still have a long way to go in my Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review process, but the results of this test are undeniably impressive.

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