After an avalanche of leaks, Samsung has officially unveiled its highly anticipated Galaxy S26 series at its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco, California. The series includes three familiar models: the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Starting with the Galaxy S26 and S26+, it’s no secret these phones look a lot like last year’s S25 and S25+. But there are a couple of notable changes. Firstly, both devices are powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor and now feature a new pill-shaped rear camera island that’s reminiscent of the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

The displays, however, remain unchanged. The S26 sports a 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel, while the S26+ bumps that up to 6.7 inches. Both support an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, just like their predecessors. Additionally, the triple rear camera specifications on the S26 and S26+ are identical to those on the S25 and S25+.

Battery life is where things get a little interesting. The S26 gets a bump to a 4,300mAh battery, up from the S26’s 4,000mAh cell. The S26+, on the other hand, sticks with the same 4,900mAh battery as the S25+, meaning only the smaller model sees an upgrade this year.

As for pricing, Samsung is unfortunately shaking things up this year. The S26 now starts at $900, while the S26+ starts at $1,100, $100 more than last year. However, like Apple did with the iPhone 17, Samsung has ditched the 128GB base option, so both models now start with 256GB by default. As for colors, the S26 and S26+ are available in three main colors: Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, and Black. You can check out the full specs below.

• 

  SoC

  Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

  Display

  6.3-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x

  RAM

  12 GB

  Storage

  256 or 512 GB

  Battery

  4,300 mAh

  Operating System

  Android

  
  

• 

  SoC

  Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

  Display

  6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X

  RAM

  12 GB

  Storage

  256 or 512 GB

  Battery

  4,900 mAh

  Operating System

  Android

  
  

The Galaxy S26 Ultra has more changes

The new Privacy Display is the highlight of the S26 Ultra

Of course, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the highlight of the S26 series. Like the S26 and S26+, it features the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the same new pill-shaped camera island, and the same three colors: Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, and Black.

The display on the S26 Ultra is the same 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X as the S25 Ultra, with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. However, what’s really cool about the S26 Ultra’s display is its new Privacy Display feature, which lets you enable a privacy filter on the phone’s screen, making it harder to see the display from the sides.

It’s similar to what a privacy screen protector offers, but now it’s built directly into the display, and you can toggle it on and off. I tried it out at a Toronto hands-on event for the S26 series and was extremely impressed. You can even have it toggle on automatically depending on which app you’re using, such as a banking or messages app. It’s definitely the standout feature of the S26 Ultra, in a year when upgrades are once again very incremental.

Diving into the S26 Ultra’s specs, there’s a lot familiar here, with a 5,000mAh battery, 12GB of RAM (16GB of RAM is exclusive to the 1TB model like the S25 Ultra), and a quad camera setup, with an f/1.9 50-megapixel ultrawide, f/1.4 200-megapixel main wide lens, an f/2.9 50-megapixel telephoto with 5x optical zoom, and an f/2.4 10-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom.

The S26 Ultra starts at the same $1,300 as the S25 Ultra did last year for the 256GB model, with 512GB and 1TB models also available. For a full deep dive into the S26 Ultra, you can check out my S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra story on Pocket-lint here. You can check out the full specs of the S26 Ultra below.

SoC

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Display

6.9-inch Dynamic Super AMOLED 2X

RAM

12 or 16 GB

Storage

256GB, 512GB, or 1TB

My first impressions

This year is focused on refinement, not reinvention

I had a chance to check out the S26 series at a Toronto hands-on event before Galaxy Unpacked, and I was impressed by the devices. The key thing to know about this year’s release is that, once again, it’s a very incremental upgrade focused on refinement, not reinvention, just like the S25 series compared to the S24 series. With that in mind, I was happy to see some of the changes Samsung made, such as the spec bump to the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 and the new rear camera design.

My main complaint about the S26 series is the absence of Qi2 magnetic charging. When the Pixel 10 series debuted Qi2 magnetic charging last year, and Google introduced its MagSafe-like feature called PixelSnap, I expected Samsung to follow suit this year by adding magnets to its phones. However, they are nowhere to be found, which is disappointing.

My other major complaint, of course, is the $100 price hike for the S26 and S26+. While they now have 256GB of base storage, they’re almost identical to the S25 and S25+ except for the chipset, so it’s hard for Samsung to justify this price hike. Though it will likely be pinned on higher component prices (thanks to AI-driven RAM and memory shortages).

All in all, if you have a Galaxy S25, S25+, or Galaxy S25 Ultra, the Galaxy S26 series is basically the same, and there is no reason whatsoever to upgrade. But if you have an S22 or S23 and have been waiting to upgrade, I don’t think the S26 series will disappoint you. It further refines what Samsung established with the S25 series, and there are some decent upgrades here, especially on the S26 Ultra, which gets the added Privacy Display feature. Though, the price hike for the S26 and S26+ stings, especially since the iPhone 17 is now $100 cheaper than the S26.

The Galaxy S26 series is available for pre-order now and launches on March 11.