The Galaxy S26 series is here: Higher prices, new AI agents, and a return to Exynos

Samsung’s Galaxy S series has long dominated as one of the best Android phones to buy, riding on its global availability and reliability as much as its specifications and user experience. For 2026, Samsung is upping its game on the Galaxy S26 Ultra flagship, while staying close to previous value propositions with the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus. Meet the Galaxy S26 series, and here’s everything you need to know about Samsung’s top-tier flagship lineup!

Samsung Galaxy S26 release date, price, and availability

Samsung has formally launched the Galaxy S26 series at its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on February 25, 2026. It’s a little later than in previous years and at a different venue, but just like last time, customers can immediately pre-order the Galaxy S26 series phones right away. However, the phones will be available for open sale two weeks later, i.e., from March 11 onwards.

The phones can be purchased from Amazon Stores, Best Buy, Samsung Experience Stores, Samsung.com (which offers exclusive Samsung.com colors), and carriers. For a limited time, Samsung is offering up to $900 in instant trade-in credit, or up to $150 without trade-in to use towards other eligible devices when customers pre-order on Samsung.com.

Going into the launch, the big question this year was whether Samsung would keep the same starting price for the base Galaxy S26. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and while competitors like Apple have managed to thwart the pricing pressure, Samsung has had to raise the price of the base Galaxy S26.

It’s a double whammy, though, as there’s no 128GB variant on offer, which means customers will have to spend at least $900 to get a Galaxy S26 (256GB), while an unlocked iPhone 17 (256GB) is cheaper at $830. For reference, the Galaxy S25 started at $800 for its 128GB variant and cost $860 for its 256GB variant, so the Galaxy S26 is at least $40 more expensive for the same storage variant.

Even the Galaxy S26 Plus is seeing a $100 price increase, now starting at $1,100 for the 256GB variant. For reference, the Galaxy S25 Plus started at $1000 for its 256GB variant.

Surprisingly, Ultra fans are lucky: the Galaxy S26 Ultra is not seeing a price increase for the base variant, which starts at $1,300 for the 256GB model, the same as the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Pricing for the Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus across global markets should be taken with a pinch of salt, as Samsung is back to its old regional-SoC shenanigans. The Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus sold in regions like Europe come with the Exynos 2600 SoC, while the same phones sold in regions like the USA come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Thankfully, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is sold everywhere with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

Samsung Galaxy S26 series: Specifications

The big upgrade in Samsung Galaxy S phones over the past few years has been the processor, and it’s even bigger this year, thanks to the regional-SoC strategy. Beyond this, you’d be hard-pressed to find meaningful hardware changes from the last generation, but there are plenty of software features to talk about. That being said, here’s the complete spec table for the Galaxy S26 series:

Samsung Galaxy S26 series: Features

Samsung’s extensive One UI 8.5 beta testing on the Galaxy S25 series gave us a good sneak peek into what was coming on the Galaxy S26 series. With the phones now official, Samsung has indeed packed a punch that goes beyond the mere spec sheet.

Build and Display

The base Galaxy S26 is getting a slight bump in display diagonal, going from 6.2-inch on the Galaxy S25 to 6.3-inch on the S26.

Beyond this minor change, the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus are also being upgraded from Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 to Gorilla Armor 2 on the front, the same as the Galaxy S25 Ultra and the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Bigger changes are seen on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The S26 Ultra is no longer a blocky phone with sharp corners, as Samsung has blessed it with a rounder corner radius that will be easier to hold. In fact, all three Galaxy S26 series phones now have the same corner radius. It’s a small detail, but one that brings about design cohesion to the lineup.

As a consequence of this change, there is now a “right” way to insert the S Pen into the Galaxy S26 Ultra so that it sits flush with the frame. Other “wrong” ways will still let you insert the S Pen, but a small protrusion will remain.

With the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Samsung is going back to an aluminium frame, ditching titanium as the build material, much like Apple.

Samsung is also upgrading the Galaxy S26 Ultra with a 10-bit display, up from the 8-bit display on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. As a result, the Galaxy S26 Ultra can now display 1.07 billion colors, up from the 16.7 million colors that the Galaxy S25 Ultra could output.

The biggest talking point is the new Privacy Display, a hardware feature available only on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

When enabled, Privacy Display reduces the visibility of parts of the display from certain angles, preventing your information from being visible to bystanders without affecting display visibility for you. It’s almost like a privacy screen protector, but with much more control.

Users can turn on Privacy Display in certain apps or certain areas of the display, or even just for pop-up notifications. There’s also a maximum setting for Privacy Display that works at even tighter angles, but it dims the display much more, which will affect how visible it is to you.

Galaxy S26 colors

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is available in Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, and White. If you order from Samsung.com, you can also select Silver Shadow or Pink Gold. Cobalt Violet is this year’s hero color, seen prominently across Samsung’s marketing materials.

Performance

Samsung used to build two variations of its Galaxy S flagships: one with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, and one with Samsung Exynos processors, targeting different markets with each. With the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung ditched Exynos and went all in with Snapdragon. However, with the Galaxy S26 series this year, we are back to a split-SoC strategy for the base Galaxy S26 and the Galaxy S26 Plus.

Once again, Samsung and Qualcomm have worked closely for a “for Galaxy” variant of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC. Details on exactly what’s different from the regular 8 Elite Gen 5 aren’t available right away, but if history is any indication, you can expect slightly higher CPU and GPU clock speeds.

The Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus are sold with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy in the US, but regions like Europe get the Exynos 2600. There’s 12GB of RAM and a choice of 256GB or 512GB of internal storage.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is sold globally with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. The 256GB and 512GB storage variants come with 12GB RAM, while the 1TB storage variants get 16GB RAM.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra also features a redesigned vapor chamber with thermal interface material along the processor’s sides, allowing heat to spread more efficiently across a larger surface area.

Camera

If you were hoping for a big camera hardware upgrade this year, you’d be disappointed once again. Samsung has decided not to significantly upgrade the camera setup on the Galaxy S26 series, with most specs remaining the same across several generations.

The biggest upgrade this year is that the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 200MP primary camera is going from f/1.7 aperture to a wider f/1.4 aperture. This wider and faster aperture will help the camera capture more light, especially in darker environments. The 50MP periscope telephoto camera for 5x optical zoom also gets a f/2.9 aperture, wider than the f/3.4 aperture on the outgoing model. The rest of the camera setup remains the same, namely the 50MP, f/1.9 ultrawide angle camera, the 10MP, f/2.4 telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP, f/2.2 front camera.

On the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus, nothing has changed. There’s the 50MP, f/1.8 primary camera, coupled with a 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide angle camera, a 10MP, f/2.4 telephoto camera for 3x optical zoom, and a 12MP, f/2.2 front camera.

Beyond the hardware, Samsung has invested in software tuning to improve the camera. The new ISP on the processors helps Samsung to deliver better noise reduction for a better “Nightography” video experience. The ISP also helps capture more natural skin tones and finer details in mixed lighting.

The Super Steady camera mode has also been upgraded to use horizontal lock based on gyroscope and accelerometer data, allowing the company to claim up to 360 degrees of lock. There’s a new object-aware engine that helps improve tones and textures for the front camera.

Finally, there’s the new APV codec on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which ensures visually lossless video quality that stays true even after repeated editing.

Battery life and charging

Let’s start with addressing the elephant in the room: If you were waiting to see Qi2 magnets on the Galaxy S26 series, you’re going to be disappointed. None of the phones in the Galaxy S26 lineup come with built-in Qi2 magnets — the phones are certified for Qi2 charging, but lack the Magnetic Power Profile, meaning you cannot attach MagSafe accessories to them unless you use a case with Qi2 magnets.

On the flip side, there are some improvements to battery life and charging across the board. The Galaxy S26 has a slightly larger 4,300mAh battery compared to its predecessor, though we’re stuck with 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. The Galaxy S26 Plus retains the 4,900mAh battery and 45W wired charging from its predecessor, but upgrades to 20W wireless charging.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra retains the 5,000mAh battery, but now we finally get faster 60W wired charging and 25W wireless charging. This is certainly great news, but Samsung could have sweetened the deal with a bigger battery, given how far ahead Ultra smartphones from other Android brands are. With 60W wired charging, the Galaxy S26 Ultra can reach 75% charge in 30 minutes.

Galaxy S26 Ultra S Pen

As mentioned earlier, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s S Pen has a redesigned clicker end. The S Pen now needs to be inserted the “right” way to sit flush with the S26 Ultra’s frame.

There’s bad news on the functionality front, though. Samsung removed S Pen’s Bluetooth functionality last year, and it’s no different this year, too. This means the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s S Pen does not support features like Air Control, remote camera shutter, and so on. It does feel like the S Pen is more of an afterthought than a primary selling point of the Galaxy S Ultra these days, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Samsung gets rid of it next generation.

One UI 8.5: Software and updates

Samsung gatekeeps its latest software release to its newest flagship, and this year is no different. The Samsung Galaxy S26 series launches with One UI 8.5 based on Android 16, and it brings several new features that will remain exclusive to the new phones for a while before they are rolled out to Samsung’s older flagships.

As for how long the phone will remain updated, Samsung continues to promise seven years of software support for the Galaxy S26 series. This means you can expect seven years of new Android releases and seven years of security updates. However, keep in mind that as the flagship ages, it will naturally rank lower in Samsung’s update priority and frequency, as is the case with all Android manufacturers. Despite the caveat, Samsung’s Galaxy S-series remains among the best options if you want an Android smartphone focused on updates.

One UI and Galaxy AI features

Samsung barely scratched the surface with hardware upgrades, and so it makes sense that the company has focused its efforts on software features. With the Galaxy S26 series, Samsung proudly claims to be transitioning from a “smartphone” to an “AI phone.”

The big change with this is that you now get even more digital assistants than ever before on your Galaxy S series. Onboard, you’ll find Google’s Gemini, Samsung’s Bixby, and now Anthropic’s Perplexity — each with its own wake words (“Hey Google,” “Hey Bixby,” and “Hey Plex,” respectively). However, you can assign the side button shortcut to only one assistant at a time.

Samsung’s reasoning for adding all this extra bloatware to its flagships is that it is building an open, multi-agent ecosystem where different AI services can coexist on the same device, rather than locking users into a single assistant or experience.

In this instance, Perplexity is positioned as a system-level AI agent that can understand context across the OS and help complete multi-step tasks in the background. It can be used in core Samsung apps like Notes, Calendar, Gallery, Clock, and Reminders, as well as select third-party apps, to continue workflows without manually managing multiple apps.

Bixby is also getting support for natural language commands, so users can navigate their devices and adjust settings without needing exact terminology or commands.

Beyond this, One UI 8.5 on the Galaxy S26 series also introduces these new features:

1. Photo Assist allows adding and editing images with just text prompts
2. Audio Eraser support expands to third-party apps, letting users isolate voice on Instagram Live, YouTube, Netflix, etc.
3. Camera app’s Document Scan can now remove hands and creases on the paper.
4. The Gallery app now analyzes your screenshots and categorizes them into a few categories, much like the Pixel Screenshots app.
5. Now Brief gets automated app actions, allowing you to undertake actions like booking an Uber without opening the Uber app.
6. Now Nudge can suggest auto-replies based on your calendar, suggest phone numbers and trip photos when someone asks for them, and more.
7. Scam Detection can detect calls and messages that could be potential scams.
8. Call Screening identifies unknown callers and summarizes intent, making it easier to manage calls.

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