By James Peckham
Publication Date: 2026-02-25 20:15:00
Samsung used today’s Unpacked event to unveil its first flagship smartphones for 2026. The Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 Ultra arrive on March 11, and while they’re not a big departure from previous Samsung phone launches, they feature the upgraded specs and refinements we’ve come to expect from its yearly Android iterations.
The company says the S26 devices are “AI phones” rather than smartphones to better highlight its Galaxy AI platform, along with improvements for shooting video, editing AI-generated images, watching videos, and planning your day with agentic features.
If you’re not due for a phone upgrade, Samsung also introduced two new pairs of flagship earbuds: the Galaxy Buds4 Pro and Galaxy Buds4.
If you weren’t able to tune into the Unpacked livestream today, here’s a breakdown of everything you missed during the launch.
Privacy Display Gamechanger: Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (left), Galaxy S26+, and Galaxy S26 (Credit: James Peckham)
The Ultra is the best of the best from Samsung, unless you’re looking for a foldable phone. It features a 6.9-inch AMOLED QHD+ display with an adaptive refresh rate up to 120Hz, down to 1Hz. All three S26 phones feature a more rounded, slimmer design and are available in four standard colors: Black, Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, and White. There are also online-exclusive colors of Silver Shadow and Pink Gold.
As PCMag’s Eric Zeman notes in his hands on, the Ultra model has…
