Samsung Electronics recently unveiled its flagship Galaxy S26 lineup of smartphones. This new product ranges has an emphasis on more AI features and what the company claimed was the industry’s first built-in privacy display.
Positioned as Samsung’s most intuitive Galaxy devices to date, the S26 series marks the company’s third generation of AI‑native smartphones. The new models aim to streamline everyday tasks by handling more processes automatically in the background, from managing schedules to surfacing information at the right time.
The new devices announced include the large Galaxy S26 Ultra priced at $1,300, the Galaxy S26 Plus ($1,100) and the more standard-sized Galaxy S26 ($900). Those price tags put Samsung’s flagship devices in line with Apple’s iPhone 17 series.
While the Ultra costs the same as its predecessor, the Plus and standard S26 are $100 more expensive than last year’s models, an increase which could partially be explained by the ongoing memory chip shortage.
In January, Samsung warned of an increasing chip shortage due to the AI boom, which is creating headwinds across its smartphones and display units.
“This isn’t a niche supply-chain gripe anymore,” stated PP Foresight CEO Paolo Pescatore. “It’s a hard constraint on the AI roadmap”. Pescatore continued: “If costs stay elevated, Samsung faces the classic squeeze: protect margins or protect volumes, and any price lift must be earned with obvious, demo-friendly wins in camera, battery and genuinely useful AI”.
More Galaxy AI
Samsung’s upgraded Galaxy AI now plays a larger role throughout the series, designed to anticipate user needs rather than wait for explicit commands.
Features such as Now Nudge and Now Brief offer contextual suggestions and reminder prompts, while improvements to Circle to Search allow users to identify multiple objects within an image simultaneously.
The S26 lineup also deepens integration with AI agents, including a more conversational Bixby assistant alongside Gemini and Perplexity agents, enabling multi-step tasks to be triggered by a single voice prompt or button press.
Pescatore said Samsung is repositioning Galaxy AI as an orchestrator, not a single-assistant bet.
“Gemini stays core, but Perplexity, plus a refreshed Bixby, signals the best tool for the job, with the upside of fewer app hops and smarter handoffs, and the downside of fragmentation, messy defaults, multiple wake words, and tougher privacy questions”. But he noted the bigger issue is that AI still isn’t a must-have for many users, which he stated is a “problem given that Samsung is leaning on Galaxy AI as its primary differentiator”.
Samsung gets chippy
Samsung is using two different chipsets across the 6.9-inch S26 Ultra, 6.7-inch Galaxy S26 Plus and 6.2-inch S26 models.
The Galaxy Ultra is getting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip across all global regions. Customers in North America, Japan and China will also have the Qualcomm processors across all three devices.
In Europe and the rest of the world, the Galaxy S26 and the Galaxy S26 Plus will feature the in-house developed Exynos 2600 chipset.
“The playbook is clear: focus on the scale models, tighten the portfolio, ensure ship-ready volumes, and keep the message clean, avoiding assistant sprawl and any two phones chipset perception”, Pescatore said.
S26 Ultra
The high-end Galaxy S26 Ultra feature the vendor’s “Privacy Display” embedded directly into the panel. When this mode is activated, the phone’s screen becomes harder to view from the side, above or below.
Samsung explains the technology controls how pixels emit light to limit viewing angles, reducing the risk of shoulder‑surfing without compromising brightness or clarity for the user.
Privacy levels can be adjusted depending on the scenario, with options to dim notification previews or restrict visibility entirely when sensitive apps are in use.
“Privacy Display is the sleeper hit”, said Pescatore. “A standout feature in a sea of AI noise and memory stress, and potentially the real purchase trigger, if Samsung actually markets it loudly enough”.
The S26 Ultra is equipped with the same resolution as its predecessor with 200MP for the main sensor and 50MP for the zoom lenses, but Samsung noted wider camera apertures allow more light to reach the sensor, which improves low-light images.
Galaxy S26 Ultra is the first Samsung device to support APV, which the vendor stated is a new, professional-grade video codec designed to deliver efficient compression for high-quality production workflows
Samsung also improved its nightography video mode to make footage clearer and more vibrant even in dimly scenes.
The device also supports 65-watt charging, which Samsung claims minimises downtime by reaching up to a 75 per cent charge in 30 minutes.
“Samsung still owns the Android flagship moment, but S26 adoption will be tougher”, Pescatore stated.
The S26 series will start shipping on 11 March.
Source: Mobile World Live
Image Credit: Samsung
