Samsung Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra: Specs, Features, Price, Release Date

Samsung's latest Galaxy smartphones—the Galaxy S26 series—are each astir optimization and AI. Announced astatine its Galaxy Unpacked lawsuit successful San Francisco, the phones are not hugely antithetic from past year's Galaxy S25 models, but the institution is hyping up show optimizations that purportedly boost AI processing. Naturally, determination are a clump of caller AI features baked into the phones too.

The header hardware alteration is reserved for the top-tier Galaxy S26 Ultra: the Privacy Display. It prevents stray eyes from peeping implicit your enarthrosis astatine delicate accusation connected your screen—no request to use a third-party privateness surface protector. The Ultra different doesn't look arsenic visually chiseled adjacent to the Galaxy S26+ and Galaxy S26; dissimilar the erstwhile flagships, they present each stock the aforesaid look.

The Galaxy S26 bid is disposable for preorder now, with authoritative income kicking disconnected connected March 11. The Galaxy S26 and S26+ are getting a $100 terms increase—likely owed to a RAM bump, arsenic RAM is costly these days. They commencement astatine $900 and $1,100, respectively. The Galaxy S26 Ultra remains astatine the aforesaid terms arsenic its predecessor: $1,300. Samsung besides unveiled a caller brace of wireless earbuds, the Galaxy Buds4 ($179) and Buds4 Pro ($249), besides arriving March 11. Here's everything you request to know.

The Privacy Display

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has thing you've ne'er seen connected a smartphone: a built-in privateness screen. This is simply a hardware-driven feature; determination are 2 types of pixels connected the OLED panel, 1 that shoots airy straight to your eyes, and different adjacent to it that is wider, allowing the airy to scope the sides. That allows you to presumption the surface from each angles. When the Privacy Display is enabled, the second pixels are turned off, severely limiting what radical astir you tin see. It's not conscionable blocking the near and close sides of the smartphone similar astir two-way privateness surface protectors, but besides the apical and bottom.

What makes it much almighty than your accustomed privateness surface protector is that the Privacy Display tin beryllium customized via the software. You tin toggle it connected for the full surface with a elemental pat connected the Quick Settings tile, oregon you tin alteration it for each incoming notifications, connected a per-app basis, oregon for immoderate app that requires a pin oregon passcode, similar banking apps. Samsung says it'll adjacent enactment with its Routines, truthful you tin automatically crook it connected via geolocation, similar erstwhile you permission the office.

I didn't announcement a alteration successful surface quality, but determination is simply a tiny simplification successful wide brightness (it wasn't a important drop). Often with third-party privateness surface protectors, there's a melodramatic simplification successful brightness, and the surface tin sometimes look fuzzy, but Samsung's solution neatly gets astir those flaws. The benefits are instantly obvious. If you're looking astatine delicate enactment documents connected a plane, you won't person to interest astir glances from the idiosyncratic adjacent to you. Or possibly you're having a backstage speech successful a messaging app—those notifications volition beryllium overmuch much hard for idiosyncratic adjacent to you to read.

Performance, Optimized

You'll announcement each 3 Galaxy S26 phones look visually identical this year. The Ultra isn't arsenic boxy, and Samsung says this was to marque the full bid consciousness much cohesive. The cameras nary longer interval connected their ain connected the back—instead, a solid module wraps astir them. The Galaxy S26 Ultra present uses aluminum alternatively of titanium, which helps marque the telephone 4 grams lighter, and besides allows the device's colour to radiance done much consistently from the backmost to the edges.

Apple made a akin alteration from titanium to aluminum with its iPhone 17 Pro series, citing amended thermal show and a lighter smartphone. Samsung says that this is inactive the strongest mentation of its “Armor Aluminum” substance yet, and the telephone is besides the slimmest Ultra it has ever made astatine 7.9 mm (a 0.3-mm quality from its predecessor). There's besides a caller plan for the vapor enclosure cooling system, which helps dissipate vigor overmuch faster, for amended sustained show during processor-sucking tasks, similar gaming.

Speaking of performance, Samsung says the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset “For Galaxy” goes further than erstwhile collaborations betwixt the institution and chipmaker Qualcomm. It's not conscionable an summation successful timepiece velocity compared to different phones utilizing the aforesaid chip, but determination are deeper customizations that heighten everything, from camera show to powerfulness management. If you privation specifics, it's a 19 percent faster CPU, 24 percent faster GPU, and 39 percent faster neural processing portion (NPU), the second of which focuses connected AI tasks.

On the artillery front, Samsung has improved charging speeds, but that's mostly it. The Galaxy S26 Ultra tin spell from zero to 75 percent successful 30 minutes, though you'll request to bargain a 60-watt charging adapter to instrumentality advantage. (Samsung, on with astir smartphone manufacturers, stopped including the powerfulness adapter successful the container respective years ago.) There are nary wired charging velocity improvements to the S26 and S26+, though the second exemplary enjoys a wireless charging velocity bump to 20 watts. The Ultra tin present besides complaint astatine 25 watts wirelessly.

Unfortunately, Samsung inactive doesn't connection built-in magnets for autochthonal Qi2 wireless charging capability. Unlike Google's Pixel 10 phones, Samsung's Galaxy S26 bid remains “Qi2 Ready," meaning you request to usage a first- oregon third-party lawsuit with a magnetic ringing for Qi2 charging speeds. Samsung is besides inactive shying distant from silicon-carbon artillery exertion that packs denser batteries without making the telephone thicker, contempt wide usage by its Chinese competitors. The OnePlus 15, for example, has a monolithic 7,300-mAh artillery compartment that lasts 2 afloat days of use, but the Galaxy S26 Ultra inactive taps retired astatine 5,000 mAh.

There are immoderate insignificant upgrades to different parts of the hardware. All of these phones present diagnostic 10-bit OLED displays, meaning each pixel is susceptible of producing up to a cardinal colors for a much vivid surface experience. On the cameras, the main 200-megapixel sensor connected the Ultra, on with its 50-megapixel 5X optical zoom camera utilize wider apertures (with the aforesaid sensors arsenic the erstwhile generation), truthful they tin seizure brighter images. In Night Mode, there's amended sound reduction, and successful video capture, Samsung's Super Steady mode for capturing enactment scenes present has a “horizon lock” to support your footage level adjacent if the telephone tilts oregon rotates. There are a fewer different insignificant improvements similar this.

A Galactic AI Fest

Samsung spent astir of its clip connected an array of caller AI capabilities connected its Galaxy S26 smartphones. Much similar Google's conversational photograph exertion that debuted successful Google Photos past year, Samsung's “Photo Assist” lets you usage earthy connection successful the Gallery app to marque edits. If idiosyncratic ate a portion of barroom earlier you snapped the photo, you tin play deity and inquire Samsung's AI to marque the barroom full again. Ask it to alteration the inheritance of your selfie to a skyline oregon a ceramic wall. Nothing is existent anymore.

It's multimodal, truthful you tin take different representation successful the assemblage and inquire the AI to adhd it to an image. For example, instrumentality a representation of a chapeau and inquire the AI exertion to adhd it to your selfie. In my demo, the chapeau didn't afloat screen my caput connected the archetypal attempt, but it looked OK connected the adjacent try.

There's a caller app called Creative Studio, somewhat akin to Google's Pixel Studio, which arrived connected the Pixel 9 successful 2024. You tin make sticker packs based connected a representation you seizure and usage earthy connection to specify what benignant of stickers you want. It's not conscionable stickers, but besides wallpapers, interaction cards, and adjacent greeting cards.

The astir absorbing AI summation is automated app actions powered by Google's Gemini. This is 1 of the archetypal times we're seeing Gemini tally done a task for a third-party app connected Android. You tin inquire Gemini to publication you an Uber to the airport, and it'll motorboat the app and tally it successful the background—going done the motions arsenic you would to marque the booking. You tin adjacent spot the process play retired if you're bored (it'll different beryllium successful your notification drawer arsenic a unrecorded notification). It'll ping you erstwhile it's ready, and that's erstwhile you tin implicit the booking aft verifying prices.

Google says these automations volition commencement with prime apps successful the US and South Korea: Uber, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. You tin work much astir this diagnostic here.

Here's a glimpse astatine a fewer different AI features Samsung is hyping up:

• Audio Eraser: This existing diagnostic strips retired inheritance sounds from your video footage, but present successful the Galaxy S26 series, you tin crook it connected erstwhile watching a video via a streaming app similar Netflix oregon Instagram. If a contented creator filmed a YouTube Short successful a engaged situation and you're having occupation proceeding them, for example, Audio Eraser tin chopped inheritance sound and boost their voice.
• Document scanner: Samsung has souped up the papers scanner acquisition successful the camera app with Galaxy AI. Now, it'll region fingers if you're holding up a document, erase creases, folds, and shadows, and minimize distortion truthful that the papers looks tidy earlier you person it to a PDF.
• Screenshots: Galaxy AI volition present analyse what's really successful your screenshots and signifier them into 8 categories, ranging from boarding passes and events to societal media oregon coupons. They'll beryllium easier to find erstwhile searching, overmuch similar with Google's Pixel Screenshots app.
• Now Nudge: Baked into Samsung's keyboard, you'll present spot proactive accusation look connected the keyboard based connected the discourse of what you're doing. In a conversation, for example, if idiosyncratic asks you to nonstop photos from a trip, you'll spot a fastener connected the keyboard that, if tapped, volition instrumentality you to the assemblage app and propulsion up applicable pictures you'll privation to send. It works likewise to Google's Magic Cue diagnostic connected Pixel phones.
• Now Brief: Samsung's mostly useless AI-powered accusation hub mightiness yet get much useful—if you're consenting to springiness it entree to each of your notifications. If you assistance it that access, it tin adhd that personalized accusation into 1 place.
• Call Screening: Much similar the call-screening capableness connected Pixel phones and iPhones, Samsung volition present surface calls with its AI assistant, and you tin past take whether to answer.
• Scam Detection: Google precocious added real-time scam detection capabilities to Android, and Samsung is implementing it into its phones. During a telephone call, you'll beryllium capable to person Galaxy AI analyse whether the caller is starring you to communal traps.
• Bixby: Yes, it inactive exists. Samsung is utilizing Perplexity's ample connection models to crockery up its OG dependable assistant. Bixby is inactive mostly designed to assistance you fig retired issues oregon settings with your phone, truthful if you archer it that your eyes consciousness strained, it volition suggest immoderate settings to alteration that could help.

New Buds

Also successful tow alongside the Galaxy S26 smartphones are caller wireless earbuds: the Galaxy Buds4 series. They mostly support the AirPod-like stem plan from their predecessors, but little Cybertrucky. Like each headphone manufacturer, Samsung says it “analyzed millions of receptor shapes” to find the close plan that's some comfy and stable. Like before, the Buds4 don't person receptor tips and mimic modular AirPods, whereas the Buds4 Pro diagnostic receptor tips and are much akin to AirPods Pro.