Samsung took over the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco on February 25th for Galaxy Unpacked 2026 – and left little to the imagination. Three new phones, a new pair of earbuds and tons of AI features. Here’s the full breakdown.
The Galaxy S26 series comes with a well-known name
The S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra all have a rounder, more cohesive design this year – which sounds insignificant until you remember that the Ultra used to look like it came from a completely different product line.
When you pick one up, you immediately notice the difference: it fits better in your hand and feels less aggressive in your pocket. Under the hood, all three run a slightly overclocked version of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (indicated by “For Galaxy” branding).
Samsung also quietly killed off the 128GB base model this year; Every S26 model now starts at 256GB, and no one is disappointed about that. What kind of people Are What’s disappointing is the price – both the S26 and S26+ are up $100 this cycle.
S26 Ultra: The privacy screen that no one knew they needed
The Ultra’s main feature is a Privacy Display that darkens the screen from side angles and blurs sensitive notifications when someone nearby is clearly curious. In my opinion, it’s one of Samsung’s most useful innovations in a long time, and future Android flagships (even MacBooks) are likely to copy it.
The camera system is also improved, with larger apertures on the 200MP main sensor and 5x telephoto lens, but the selfie camera remains the same old tiny 12MP camera.
The third generation Galaxy AI features are also cool
Now Brief gives you a personalized morning snapshot – weather, calendar, reminders – before you’ve unlocked your phone. Now Nudge displays relevant actions based on what’s on your screen.
Google has also jumped in: Gemini’s scam detection processes spam calls silently so you never have to, and Circle to Search can now identify multiple items at once, for example by scanning an entire outfit instead of a single item.
Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro
Samsung has released two models – the standard Buds 4 and the Buds 4 Pro. The Pro is the one that does the heavy lifting, with adaptive ANC, improved spatial audio and that improved call clarity. The base Buds 4 make things simpler and more affordable, but still have the basic Galaxy AI treatment.
All S26 models and the Buds 4 can now be pre-ordered.
