Of all the things Samsung announced at the Galaxy Unpacked event on February 25, 2026, one little feature might actually be my favorite, and for good reasons. Remember Samsung’s Audio Eraser that appeared with the Galaxy S25 series?
You would record a video, open it in the Gallery app, tap the AI button and any background noise that crept in during recording would be erased. Wind, noise from people, a lawnmower three houses away – gone. It worked so well that people noticed, and Samsung clearly noticed that people noticed.
With Samsung’s new Audio Eraser you can significantly improve your live sports broadcasts
The catch was that it only worked in Samsung’s own Gallery app, on videos you’d already recorded. However, with the Galaxy S26 series and One UI 8.5, Audio Eraser has seen a decent boost. It now works in real time across third-party streaming apps – YouTube, Netflix, Instagram, TikTok and more.
Just swipe down from the status bar while something is playing, press the Audio Eraser switch, and the phone will start filtering live audio in no time. No leaving the app, no exporting, no waiting. It makes it easy.
Think about how many times you’ve turned up the volume on a YouTube concert video just to attract more of an audience than an artist. Or you tried following an Instagram live stream at a coffee shop while the espresso machine next to you had other ideas.
You can concentrate on the language or control the isolation effect
The S26’s Audio Eraser is designed for these moments – it pushes voices and the main tone forward and pushes everything else back. There’s also a speech focus switch if you want it to focus specifically on speech, as well as a strength slider if full noise cancellation feels a little too clinical for what you’re watching.
Impressively good from what we’ve seen so far. During one demo, a hockey video on YouTube was played with Audio Eraser running – the commentators came through cleanly while the noise of the arena crowd faded into the background.
Turn it off and the roar will start again immediately. There are occasional audio artifacts when processing is heavy, which is par for the course with this type of AI filtering, but nothing that ruins the experience.
What really sets it apart is not just that it works, but that it works live, on device, and with no noticeable lag. This is the part that’s hard to do, and Samsung has done it.
