#samsung-galaxy-s26

#samsung-galaxy-s26

In the seven days between February 27 and March 5, Samsung saw 1.35 million pre-orders. For comparison, the Galaxy S25 trio last year reached 1.3 million pre-orders in 11 days. This may be enough to finally dethrone the Galaxy Note10 achievement from 2019.

The Snapdragon processor on the Galaxy S26 is a couple of generations newer than that of the S24, so you can expect better performance from the latest phone. Samsung is also more heavily leaning into artificial intelligence (AI) features with each generation, and this year is no exception. The new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor offers faster performance than the Gen 3, better power efficiency, and more capable AI processing.

Samsung didn't swing for the fences this time around, producing phones with a few cosmetic tweaks and upgraded internals. Meanwhile, Samsung is investing even more in AI, saying the S26 series includes the first "Agentic AI phones." Despite limited hardware upgrades, the realities of component prices in the age of AI mean the prices of the two cheaper models have gone up by $100 this year.

The Galaxy S26 lineup includes three new models (the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Ultra, and the Galaxy S26 Plus), and each offers more efficient batteries, overhauled software, and a suite of new AI features.

Samsung didn't change the recipe this year; it just tried to improve it through some software and AI trickery. We are talking improvements in how we interact with Galaxy AI, performance and even camera optimizations.

Samsung finally confirmed the launch date for the S26 series. We'll see the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra make their debuts on February 25, just as expected. Samsung's big launch event will take place in San Francisco and will be livestreamed on Samsung.com as well as YouTube. Samsung also went ahead and opened reservations for the S26 series. Users who sign up for the event are eligible for $30/€30 vouchers, a trade-in bonus, and a chance to win other vouchers.

Samsung's annual Galaxy S-series reveal is later than usual this year, but we finally have a confirmed date to circle on the calendar: February 25th. And if you were hoping for major hardware upgrades from the company's flagship phones, you probably shouldn't hold your breath: an extensive leak published by WinFuture has seemingly confirmed that the S26 series will be a software-focused affair.

Following up on the earlier leak showing the Galaxy S26 Ultra from all angles through a 360-degree video, Evan Blass (aka @evleaks) is now back with some very official-looking high-res renders depicting what seems to be the vanilla Galaxy S26. Of course there's a chance it's the S26+ in these images, but based on how much the camera island occupies of the total length, it's a tad more likely it's the S26.

Late last year, the renowned tipster Evan Blass revealed the potential Galaxy S26 Unpacked event date - February 25, 2026, which at the time seemed far-fetched given that the last two Galaxy S Unpacked events were in late January. Now, we have the market release date as well. One thing is for sure, though: this year's Unpacked event for the Galaxy S series will be significantly delayed,

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series smartphones, expected to go official in January 2026, will feature displays that won't be brighter than those of their predecessors. The word comes from reliable tipster UniverseIce, who said that the peak brightness of the Galaxy S26 series is 2,600 nits - the same as the Galaxy S25 lineup. If true, that's not a cool move by Samsung since we have some Chinese flagships in the market that are much brighter.

Just two months ago, accepted wisdom was that there would be no Galaxy S26 Plus, Samsung's mid-sized flagship canned in favor of a slim Edge phone. Now things have flipped, with the Edge supposedly cancelled and the Plus not only on track to release early next year, but revealed in new renders based on the phone's leaked specs. Our first potential look at the S26 Plus comes from leaker OnLeaks via Android Headlines, and for the most part it looks familiar enough.

At least one phone in Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S26 range may look a little different to what we were expecting, and a lot more like Apple's iPhone 17 series. That's going by a photo of dummy phones shared by leaker and journalist Sonny Dickson, who has a pretty good track record for sourcing accurate Apple and Samsung phone designs.