If you’re a mobile gamer, you know three things about gaming on your phone. First, it can get incredibly hot in no time flat. Second, is that the phone’s performance can tank if it gets too hot, making games unplayable if it gets bad enough. And third, a hot phone can hurt to hold, especially if you’re not using a case or if your case doesn’t adequately vent the heat somewhere other than on your hands.
Thankfully, Aulumu has a solution for Galaxy S26 Ultra users in the form of its latest case concept. The discreetly named “S26 Ultra Ultra-Slim Aramid Fiber Case” doesn’t seem to suggest that it’s intended for gaming or anything special other than being slim, really, but a quick trip to the back of the box begins to reveal this case’s secrets.
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In my testing, I found the Aulumu Aramid fiber case reduced heat output while gaming by several degrees. Not only that, but it kept heat off the screen — a place where many modern phones dissipate heat, much to our thumbs’ dismay — and even kept the sides of the case cool to the touch.
This meant playing Fortnite, Minecraft, Zenless Zone Zero, and even casual games was always a pleasant experience and didn’t suffer from the discomfort that comes with a hot phone. But that only solves two of the three problems I previously mentioned, so how about performance? In a word: excellent.
Swipe to scroll horizontallyGalaxy S26 Ultra sustained performance testing
Case
3DMark Solar Bay Extreme Test score
Peak temperature measured (front glass)
Wearing Aulumu Aramid Fiber case
1111
103 F / 39 C
Wearing Aulumu Frosted Glow case
905
107 F / 41 C
Wearing Dbrand Tank case
883
112 F / 44 C
As you can see from the chart above, using Aulumu’s Frosted Glow case — the slightly heftier case pictured at the top of this article — caused the phone to reach 107 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celcius). Meanwhile, I saw the temperature peak at 103 F (39 C) when using the Aulumu Aramid fiber case. Meanwhile, the Dbrand Tank case, which is amazingly protective but also much bulkier than the other two, saw the highest temperature reach 112 F (44 C).
If you’re a PC gamer (or are just interested in CPU tech), you’ll know that 40 degrees Celcius is the point where people start paying attention to temperatures. In many cases, phones start to throttle at around 45 C. In the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s case, Samsung seems to start heavily throttling performance around 42 C based on my testing, so keeping it below that number is extremely important.
I ran a few benchmarks using 3DMark’s built-in stress tests, which run 20-minute ray-traced 3D benchmarks to push the Galaxy S26 Ultra to its absolute limit. While the Aulumu Aramid fiber case only kept the phone a few degrees cooler during the stress test, the performance difference was downright staggering.
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(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
(Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)
On average, I found the Galaxy S26 Ultra scored around 900 points on this benchmark when using a traditional phone case (like the Aulumu Frosted Glow case). With the Aramid Fiber case, that score jumped over 1,100, a 20% increase in sustained performance over the 20 minutes the test ran.
If you’re a mobile gamer, you’ll know that the 20-30 minute mark is usually when a phone hits its lowest performance mark and typically doesn’t recover from that speed until you put it down for a while. With the Aulumu Aramid fiber case, that speed didn’t drop as much, and it stayed consistently faster since the phone could remain cooler.
I normally prefer Aramid fiber cases for their minimalist build, but Aulumu has given me a reason to choose its ultra-slim cases over some of my other favorite brands, as it not only looks and feels better than a normal case but also helps the phone perform better under stress. Now that’s an impressive bonus!
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