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Commentary: Samsung needed to give us a reason to be excited about its latest flagship. It delivered.
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Here's how the new Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra compares with its Apple rival, the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
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During its Unpacked event today, Samsung announced three new Galaxy S-series phones as well as the latest generation of its earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. Pre-orders are now open and the new devices are set to ship March 11. As expected, this year's models aren't drastically different from last year's, but all the phones are equipped to better handle the Galaxy AI experiences such as Now Nudge that offers suggestions based on your activities and a more conversational assitant in Bixby (or Gemini or Perplexity depending on your preferance).
Engadget's own Sam Rutherford is on-site in San Francisco for the new hardware launch and will have hands-on impressions. We'll follow that up with official reviews in the next week. But if you can't wait for our final verdict, here's how to pre-order Samsung's Galaxy S26 phones and the Galaxy Buds 4 today.
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 Samsung today announced its newest flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S26, S26 , and S26 Ultra. Samsung's latest devices are focused on AI, and Samsung says they have the most "intuitive, proactive, and adaptive Galaxy AI features" to date.
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Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra, and the company is once again leaning heavily on AI, camera upgrades and refined hardware to move the lineup forward. While the overall design remains familiar, there are some meaningful differences between the three models, particularly when it comes to display tech, charging speeds and camera hardware.
Across the board, the S26 family is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip and runs Android 16 with One UI 8.5. Samsung is also doubling down on Galaxy AI features like Now Brief, Now Nudge and upgraded Circle to Search, positioning the new phones as more proactive assistants than before.
As usual, though, the Ultra model is where Samsung is pushing the envelope the furthest. It gains the most advanced camera system, faster wired and wireless charging and the company's new built-in Privac
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Starting with the Samsung Galaxy S26, Google's Gemini can automate tasks in popular mobile apps. We got a live demo of the new feature in action.
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 As we prepare to leave the winter months, Samsung announced another family of Galaxy S flagships for those looking to upgrade. As usual, the company put its best components and features into the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but it also added more to the base S26 and S26 . The company has hit its groove with its smaller (and cheaper) flagships, delivering solid devices with increasingly better cameras, occasionally even offering feature parity with its most expensive smartphone.
In 2026, that's what we're getting, with the 6.3-inch S26 ($899) and 6.7-inch S26 ($1,099). Both phones are more expensive than last year, and it's often a game of spot-the-difference when it comes to showing what's new.
Fortunately, the best parts have been retained, too. Samsung has unified the design style across the entire S26 series, with the same corner ratios, curved edges and other design touches. While I tested both phones, I'll focus on the S26. Barring screen differences and battery size, they're identically specced.
This year's S26 color selection has a premium Samsung ‘mood' to it that I can't quite explain. Does purple mean Samsung to my brain? Maybe. Cobalt Violet is the particular shade I'm talking about, but there are also blue, black and white colors. Additional silver and pink-gold options will be available as online exclusives. There's not much else to say about the design: it's another Galaxy S flagship, and if it ain't broke…
Mat Smith for Engadget
Samsung has increased the battery capacity to 4,300 mAh on
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 Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. The company took the opportunity to reveal the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26 and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on impressions of all three handsets as well.
In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. Here's a look at everything Samsung announced at the latest Unpacked:
Galaxy S26 and S26 Sam Rutherford for Engadget
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I went hands-on with Samsung's newest base and plus model phones. The Galaxy S26 has a larger screen and a bigger battery, while the S26 Plus is a lot like the S25 Plus.
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No surprise here. The Galaxy S26, S26 , and S26 Ultra really lean into AI features.
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Samsung's new phones all get AI enhancements, and the flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra has a Privacy Display that can block the screen from nosy neighbors.
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