Samsung unveils the Galaxy S26 series

Samsung has officially taken the wraps off the Galaxy S26 series at Galaxy Unpacked 2026 in San Francisco, unveiling what it calls its “most intuitive Galaxy AI phone yet.” The lineup includes the standard Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and the top-tier Galaxy S26 Ultra, and the pitch this year is simple: your phone should think a little more so that you don’t have to.

“We believe AI should be something people can depend on every day, designed to work consistently for everyone and without the need for expertise,” said TM Roh, Samsung’s Head of Device eXperience. “With the Galaxy S26 series, we focused on making AI feel effortless, working quietly in the background so people can focus on what matters.”

In plain English, Samsung wants the S26 to do more of the busy work behind the scenes.

Design: Thinner Ultra, unified look

All three phones share the same rounded design language and come in Cobalt Violet, Black, Sky Blue, and White, with a couple of online-exclusive colors thrown in. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is now 0.3mm thinner than its predecessor and weighs 214 grams, making it the slimmest Ultra yet.

It is not a dramatic redesign. Think refinement rather than reinvention. Slightly lighter, slightly slimmer, slightly more polished. The kind of change you notice after a few days of use rather than at first glance.

Privacy display: Built-in screen privacy on the Ultra

The headline hardware feature this year is exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Ultra: a built-in privacy display. Instead of slapping on a third-party privacy screen protector, Samsung has integrated the feature directly into the panel.

When enabled, the screen looks normal from straight on but becomes difficult to read from the sides. That means fewer wandering eyes on public transport or in cafés. Users can tie it to a double-press of the side button or have it automatically activate when entering PINs or passwords.

This is the first built-in privacy display on a mobile phone. Unlike stick-on films, it does not permanently degrade brightness or clarity when turned off. And yes, you’ll see this technology on a Xiaomi/Redmi, OPPO, or Vivo phone next to you by the end of this year.

Performance: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and better cooling

Under the hood, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, a customized chip tuned specifically for Samsung’s devices. The Galaxy S26 and S26+ also get the same treatment in select markets like the US, but the rest of us, including here in Kenya, will be getting the models powered by Samsung’s latest Exynos 2600 chipset.

Samsung claims up to a 19% CPU performance boost, 39% improvement in AI processing via the NPU, and 24% better GPU performance. This means apps open faster, multitasking feels smoother, and AI features can run constantly without slowing the phone down.

To keep things cool, the Ultra now has a redesigned vapor chamber with improved heat dissipation. Super Fast Charging 3.0 at 60W can push the battery to 75% in about 30 minutes, which is useful if you treat your battery percentage like a countdown timer to anxiety. But the Galaxy S26 still gets 25W while the S26+ is on 45W.

Galaxy AI: Now Nudge, smarter search, conversational Bixby

This is Samsung’s third generation of Galaxy AI, first introduced with the Samsung Galaxy S24 series. On the Galaxy S26 lineup, AI becomes more proactive.

A new feature called Now Nudge surfaces contextual suggestions. This mimics Google Pixel’s Magic Cue. For example, if someone messages you about evening plans, the phone can check your calendar and show a quick pop-up about potential conflicts. If a friend asks for trip photos, it can suggest relevant images without you digging through your gallery.

Circle to Search with Google has also been upgraded. Instead of circling one object, you can now circle multiple items in a photo, such as someone’s jacket and shoes, and get separate results for each.

Samsung’s own assistant, Bixby, has been upgraded to better understand natural language. You can say something vague like “My eyes feel tired,” and it will suggest turning on Eye Comfort Shield. The S26 series also supports multiple AI agents, including Google Gemini and Perplexity AI, letting users complete tasks like booking a ride or searching across apps with fewer steps.

Camera: 200MP stays, AI does more editing

The Galaxy S26 Ultra retains a 200MP main camera and pairs it with a 50MP telephoto lens offering 5x optical zoom and 10x optical-quality zoom. Wider apertures improve low-light performance, and Samsung says Nightography video has been further enhanced for clearer footage in dim settings.

Video stabilization also gets a boost with upgraded Super Steady and support for APV, a new professional-grade video codec designed for high-quality editing workflows.

As for the Galaxy S26 and S26+, the photos will rely on a 12MP ultra-wide camera with an aperture of f/2.2 aperture, a 50MP wide camera with 2x optical zoom and an f/1.8 aperture, and a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and an f/2.4 aperture. The selfie is a 12MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture.

The bigger story is AI editing. The upgraded Photo Assist tool allows users to describe changes in simple language. Want to turn a daytime photo into night? Remove a bite from a cake? Clean up a spill on your shirt? The phone attempts to fix it in seconds.

Creative Studio expands this with text-to-image generation. You can type a prompt like “Draw me a dog” and turn it into stickers, wallpapers, or invitations. It is less about professional creators and more about making everyday edits feel frictionless.

Security: Privacy at the pixel and beyond

Beyond the Privacy Display, Samsung is leaning heavily into security. The Galaxy S26 series includes AI-powered call screening that identifies unknown callers and summarizes why they are calling. If that sounds familiar, it’s the same Call Screen feature seen on Google Pixel phones. Privacy Alerts notify users when apps try to access sensitive data like location or call logs unnecessarily.

There is also a Private Album feature built directly into Gallery, plus extended support for post-quantum cryptography to future-proof software verification and firmware protection.

Samsung is promising seven years of security updates, which is increasingly becoming the baseline for flagship Android devices.

Availability

The Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra are available for pre-order starting February 25. As expected, pricing will vary by market and configuration. In the US, the Galaxy S26 starts from $899, the S26+ goes for $1,099 while the S26 Ultra starts at $1,299. These prices are higher than the S25 series.

The Galaxy S26 series does not reinvent the smartphone. It refines it. The hardware gets incrementally better, the cameras get smarter, and the AI gets more involved in daily tasks.

The real question is whether users will want to upgrade to the latest and greatest from Samsung or keep their current Galaxy S23, S24, or even S25.

Samsung is clearly betting on the former.

Galaxy S26 series specs at a glance

Here is the breakdown of how the three new siblings compare. Whether you want the absolute beast that is the Ultra, the “just right” S26+, or the pocket-friendly S26, here are the numbers that matter: