Cell World Congress is correct across the nook, however Samsung acquired out forward of many rivals that will likely be displaying off new handsets at that occasion by operating the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. At its occasion in San Francisco’s Palace of Positive Arts, the corporate revealed the Galaxy S26 lineup, which incorporates the bottom S26, the S26+ and the S26 Extremely. We have some hands-on time with all three handsets as properly, and you’ll examine our in-person experience with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, in addition to our S26 and S26+ impressions in these articles.
Along with these, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Buds 4 together with (you guessed it) some AI updates. All of the units unveiled immediately are already available for pre-order, must you already be dying to get your palms on them. This is a take a look at every thing Samsung introduced on the newest Unpacked:
Galaxy S26 and S26+
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
New-ish year, new Samsung phones. Let’s cope with the out-and-out dangerous information first. The S26 and S26+ are every $100 dearer than their predecessors (the RAM shortage is not precisely serving to to maintain costs down). They start at $900 and $1,100, respectively, for variants with 256GB of storage.
Samsung has tweaked the design a bit this time by rounding the corners to align them extra with the S26 Extremely’s look. The bottom mannequin has a barely bigger show than the S25 at 6.3 inches, although the S26+ nonetheless has a 6.7-inch display (albeit with a better decision than the S26 can deal with). The S26 has a bigger battery capability than the S25 too at 4,300mAh.
In North America, China and Japan, Samsung is sticking with Qualcomm chips fairly than utilizing its personal Exynos 2600. If you happen to decide up an S26 or S26+ in these markets, it would run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.
The digital camera modules are the identical as final yr, however Samsung is aiming to supercharge them with upgrades elsewhere, resembling ProScaler picture upscaling and an MDNIe chip that is mentioned to tremendously enhance shade precision. There’s additionally a video stabilization function that tries to maintain the horizon degree when you’re following a transferring particular person or pet, which sounds helpful for motion pictures. The brand new Object Conscious Engine is claimed to raised render pores and skin tones and hair textures to make your selfies look higher. Samsung has reworked some AI options too, resembling making Now Temporary and Auto Eraser appropriate with extra apps.
Pre-orders for the S26 and S26+ are open immediately, and so they’ll be obtainable on March 11. The telephones will likely be obtainable in purple, blue, black, white, silver and rose gold, although the latter two are on-line exclusives.
Galaxy S26 Extremely
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will likely be obtainable in the identical colorways and on the identical date as its smaller siblings. It begins at $1,300, so there’s no worth improve from the S25 Extremely. Preorders open immediately.
The S26 Extremely has a 6.9-inch AMOLED show with a QHD+ decision of 3120 x 1440 and a 120Hz refresh price. That is all properly and good, however the show is hiding (that being the important thing phrase) what’s maybe the Galaxy S26 Extremely’s most attention-grabbing function.
The system has a Privateness Show that’s mentioned to be the primary of its sort on a smartphone. The thought right here is to stop individuals round from seeing what’s on the display from acute angles. There is a small lower in brightness when Privateness Show is energetic, and there are many customization choices.
You’ll be able to arrange Privateness Show to activate whenever you’re requested for a password or PIN, or whenever you get a notification or open sure apps. So if (for example) you have a tendency to have a look at your banking apps whenever you’re on public transit and don’t need different passengers to see how a lot moolah you may have, Privateness Show looks as if a really useful function.
Elsewhere, the S26 Extremely runs on the identical chipset as its smaller siblings. It comes with 12 or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. The battery is bigger than those within the different S26 fashions, because the Extremely has a 5,000 mAh capability. There’s help for Tremendous Quick Charging 3.0 as properly. Alas, Samsung nonetheless hasn’t seen match to supply built-in Qi2 charging magnets within the S26 lineup, which looks as if a wild oversight within the yr 2026.
The selfie digital camera is similar as on the S26 and S26+. The S26 Extremely has 50MP ultrawide and 200MP huge lenses, together with twin 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto sensors. The resolutions of these cameras are the identical as on the S25 Extremely, however the principle 200M and 5x telephoto sensors now have wider apertures to let in additional mild. The S26 Extremely after all has the digital camera software program options (and different AI options) discovered within the S26 and S26+.
We’ll have a evaluation of the units quickly. Within the meantime, head on by to our hands-on story for our initial impressions of the S26 Ultra.
Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Professional
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
Whereas the S26 telephones are extra iterative updates this yr, Samsung has given its Galaxy Buds a correct refresh. It revamped the design and form of the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to dispose of the angular look of the stems and take away the lights from them.
The earbuds have a “extra refined, computationally designed match” too, in keeping with Samsung. The corporate claims the newest earbuds have smaller earbud heads that permit for a greater, safer match and a extra “snug expertise throughout all-day put on.” The Galaxy Buds 4 stay in an open-fit format whereas the Buds Professional 4 have a canal-fit design.
The newest earbuds are mentioned to supply improved audio high quality and energetic noise cancellation (ANC), with an ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. On Buds 4 Professional, there is a siren detection function that allows ambient sound to allow you to hear issues like alarms or emergency car warnings.
The Buds 4 Professional have a large woofer that will increase the efficient speaker space by practically 20 % in contrast with the earlier gen earbuds, Samsung mentioned. They help 24-bit/96kHz audio.
If you happen to’re utilizing Galaxy Buds 4 or Buds 4 Professional with a Galaxy system, you can use Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity with hands-free voice controls (although the “hey, Plex” command for the latter is perhaps a tad complicated for folk who use a sure media server app). The Buds 4 Professional help head gesture controls for managing calls and Bixby interactions as properly.
As with the S26 telephones, pre-orders for the earbuds open immediately and so they’ll hit cabinets on March 11. The Galaxy Buds 4 cost $180 and Galaxy Buds 4 Professional will run you $250. Each fashions can be found in white and black with a matte end. There’s an online-exclusive pink possibility for Buds 4 Professional as properly.
Android AI options
Forward of Unpacked, Samsung confirmed that it could offer Perplexity as an AI agent option in Galaxy AI on the S26 lineup. As a part of that replace, it shared that the S26 collection would reply to the “Hey Plex” wake phrase, and that Perplexity’s options would even be embedded within the Samsung Browser app. The corporate additionally just lately updated Bixby to make its personal digital assistant extra conversational.
On prime of that information, Google had bulletins of its personal to make at Unpacked concerning new Android AI features, which can after all be obtainable on S26 units. On these handsets and the Pixel 10 lineup, the Gemini app will quickly have a function (in beta) that allows you to offload multi-step duties, resembling reserving a journey or placing a grocery order collectively, to AI. It positive seems like an try and construct out agentic AI options on cell units.
Beginning this week on Pixel 10 units (and shortly on S26 telephones), Circle to Search will provide the power to seek out particulars about multiple objects at once, resembling whole outfits as an alternative of single items. Furthermore, Gemini-powered, on-device Rip-off Detection for cellphone calls will likely be obtainable for S26 units in English within the US.
Replace, February 25 2026, 4:35PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate extra particulars on the Perplexity AI integration, in addition to embrace mentions within the intro of our hands-on and pre-order articles.
