Overview
- Preorders opened February 25 with global availability around March 11, and U.S. starting prices are about $899 for S26, $1,099 for S26+, and $1,299 for S26 Ultra.
- Galaxy AI adds agentic features such as Now Nudge, Now Brief and Now Bar with support for Bixby, Google’s Gemini and Perplexity to automate multi‑step tasks.
- The S26 Ultra debuts a built‑in Privacy Display that limits lateral screen visibility and can auto‑activate for sensitive actions like PIN entry or specific apps.
- Hardware highlights include the Ultra’s 200 MP camera system and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy with company‑quoted gains of up to 19% CPU, 39% NPU and 24% GPU, plus a 5,000 mAh battery that reaches roughly 75% in about 30 minutes.
- Processor deployments vary by market with Exynos 2600 (2 nm) in some S26/S26+ models and Snapdragon in the Ultra, and Samsung is promising seven years of software and security updates, while industry reports say early Ultra production targets were raised—reports not confirmed by Samsung.