Samsung Unveils the Galaxy S26 Series: Its Most Intuitive AI Phone Yet

Samsung has announced the Galaxy S26 series, powered by the most proactive and adaptive Galaxy AI experiences yet and designed to simplify the tasks people do on their phones every day. From managing plans and finding information to capturing and refining content, the Galaxy S26 series reduces the effort and number of steps required to get things done. As Samsung’s third-generation AI phones, the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra handle complex tasks in the background, allowing users to focus on results rather than how the technology works.

The Galaxy S26 series was engineered with Samsung’s most advanced capabilities working together as one: incredible performance, an intuitive camera system, and Galaxy AI. This provides a strong foundation that gives Galaxy S26 users the confidence to depend on their phones throughout the day without compromising security or privacy.

Building on Samsung's decades of innovation in display technology, the Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces the industry's first built-in Privacy Display for mobile phones to unlock a new class of display experiences and reinforce Samsung's commitment to privacy at a pixel level. The Galaxy S26 Ultra also delivers a customised chipset and upgraded thermal management that enable faster and more powerful AI—all wrapped up in the slimmest Ultra yet.

Together, these choices allow the Galaxy S26 series to deliver the most powerful Galaxy experience yet.

“We believe AI should be something people can depend on every day, designed to work consistently for everyone and without the need for expertise,” said TM Roh, Chief Executive Officer, President, and Head of Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics. “With the Galaxy S26 series, we focused on making AI feel effortless by designing it to complete tasks naturally, working quietly in the background so people can focus on what matters.”

Powerful Performance Designed Around Everyday Use

Engineered for all-day performance, the Galaxy S26 series is built on the most robust hardware ever featured on a Galaxy S series device, powered by a customised chipset. Across the line-up, the Galaxy S26 series is engineered for AI performance, power efficiency, and thermal management, ensuring demanding tasks run smoothly and consistently so users can rely on their devices when it matters.

On the Galaxy S26 Ultra, a customised mobile processor—the Snapdragon® 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy—delivers the best performance ever in its class with significant gains across the CPU, GPU, and NPU to support faster, smoother experiences that keep up throughout the day.

A CPU performance increase of up to 19% means the Galaxy S26 Ultra responds more quickly and handles complex workloads intelligently, even when multiple tasks are running at once. A 39% improvement in NPU performance powers always-on Galaxy AI features that run seamlessly, allowing users to move between tasks without lag or interruption. A 24% boost in GPU performance delivers richer visuals and more fluid gameplay.

To sustain this level of performance, the Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces a redesigned Vapor Chamber with thermal interface material positioned along the sides of the processor, allowing heat to spread more efficiently across a larger surface area. This improves heat dissipation to keep the device cool and consistent, even during demanding activities such as gaming, multitasking, and video capture. To support all-day use, the Galaxy S26 Ultra also features Super-Fast Charging 3.0, minimising downtime by reaching up to a 75% charge in just 30 minutes.

Embedded into the processor, Samsung’s proprietary technologies enhance visual performance. ProScaler improves image scaling so photos and videos appear richer and clearer at a glance by sharpening text and fine details while smoothing textures. Additionally, Samsung’s mobile Digital Natural Image engine (mDNIe) delivers more subtle and lifelike colours thanks to image processing with four times the precision compared to the previous generation.

Taken together, these advancements deliver dependable all-day performance, making every action feel effortless.

Galaxy’s Best Camera System Yet

The Galaxy S26 series brings the same focus on intuitive interaction to creativity and productivity, delivered through the best Galaxy camera system ever. With an approach that integrates content capture, editing, and sharing into a single, seamless experience, creativity feels more natural and accessible, even without professional tools or technical knowledge.

On the Galaxy S26 Ultra, wider camera apertures allow more light to reach the sensor, delivering clearer photos with richer details in low-light conditions, even when zoomed in. Enhanced Nightography Video keeps footage clearer and more vibrant even in dim scenes, whether capturing concerts indoors or recording moments around a campfire after sunset. Video capture is further enhanced with upgraded Super Steady capabilities, which add a horizontal lock option for greater stability and to make consistent framing easier to achieve, even with bumpy trails or fast-paced activities. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is the first Galaxy device to support APV, a new professional-grade video codec designed to deliver efficient compression for high-quality production workflows. Optimised for advanced creators, it ensures visually lossless video quality that stays true even after repeated editing.

Improvements to the AI ISP now extend to the selfie camera, capturing more natural skin tones and finer details in mixed lighting.

Editing photos and videos is just as easy and straightforward, with AI-powered tools built into familiar workflows so users can make changes quickly and unlock their creativity without design expertise.

With the upgraded Photo Assist suite, users can simply describe what they want to change in their own words. Changing the scene from day to night is just a matter of asking. The feature can also add to images and restore missing parts of objects, like a bite taken out of a cake. Personal details, such as a spill on clothing, can also be cleaned up with Galaxy AI’s new ability to change outfits in photos. Edits can now be made continuously, reviewed step by step, and easily adjusted or undone along the way, making the process feel fluid rather than final.

Creative Studio builds on this simplicity by bringing creation and customisation into one integrated space, making it easy to act on ideas when inspiration strikes. Starting from a sketch, photo, or prompt, users can quickly turn ideas into polished visuals—from stickers and invitations to personalised wallpapers—and refine or share them without switching tools or interrupting their creative flow.

The Galaxy S26 series also simplifies frequent visual tasks with AI-powered tools like the Document Scanner, which removes distortions and distractions, such as creases or fingers, to deliver clean scans instantly. Multiple images can be organised automatically into a single PDF, making it easy to digitise receipts, forms, or notes.

Everyday Ease With Proactive and Adaptive Galaxy AI

The Galaxy S26 series is designed to make frequently used experiences feel straightforward and user-friendly, with Galaxy AI reducing the steps between intent and action. It works more proactively and seamlessly on the user’s behalf based on context, surfacing the right support at the right moment and automating tasks with minimal manual input. As the technology fades and handles tasks in the background, users can focus on the results.

With Now Nudge, timely and relevant suggestions help users stay in the flow without being distracted. If a friend asks for photos from a recent trip, the Galaxy S26 automatically suggests photos from the Gallery, removing the need to search through albums or switch between apps. When receiving a message about a meeting, the Galaxy S26 can recognise related Calendar entries and check for conflicts.

On the Galaxy S26 series, Now Brief has become more proactive and personalised. The Now Brief widget recommends exercise playlists and surfaces timely reminders for important events based on personal context.

Searching for information is also easier than ever. Circle to Search with Google on the Galaxy S26 series has been upgraded with enhanced multi-object recognition, so users can now explore more deeply on multiple parts of an image at once. If users spot a look they love, the feature also identifies everything from the jacket to the shoes, all in one search.

The Galaxy S26 series integrates a choice of agents, including Bixby, Gemini, and Perplexity. Once set up, tasks can be completed with a single button press or voice prompt. The series features an upgraded Bixby as a conversational device agent, making it easier than ever to interact with Galaxy devices. The Galaxy S26 can also handle multi-step tasks in the background, streamlining the process on the user’s behalf. For example, with Gemini, requesting a ride or booking a taxi is as simple as asking, reviewing the details, and tapping confirm. These assistants support tasks such as searching, coordinating actions across apps, and controlling device settings through natural interaction.

Together, these proactive, personalised, and adaptive experiences lay the foundation for more agentic AI experiences—setting the stage for Galaxy devices to become trusted companions that understand and anticipate user needs.

Layers of Protection in the Age of AI

As mobile experiences become more personalised thanks to AI, protecting user privacy becomes even more critical. Samsung builds protection into every layer of the Galaxy S26, keeping personal data secure while giving users transparency and control over how their information is used.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra introduces privacy at the pixel level with the mobile industry’s first built-in Privacy Display, a breakthrough in display technology that fundamentally changes how privacy can be protected on a phone. Designed for everyday situations like transit, cafés, and shared environments, Privacy Display goes beyond anything previously available on mobile devices—hardware and software working as one to protect privacy without compromising the viewing experience.

By controlling how pixels disperse light, the display keeps content clear, bright, and comfortable for the user in everyday use while limiting what others can see. Unlike traditional stick-on privacy films, Galaxy’s integrated Privacy Display preserves full viewing quality from all directions when off and limits visibility for others from side viewing angles when activated, even when switching between portrait and landscape orientations.

Users can customise when it turns on—such as when entering PINs and passwords or opening selected apps—and adjust privacy levels depending on the situation. Partial Screen Privacy intelligently limits visibility for notification pop-ups, while Maximum Privacy Protection further obscures side views for added discretion, all with minimal impact on power or usability.

The Galaxy S26 series also brings smarter software safeguards that work quietly in the background. AI-powered Call Screening identifies unknown callers and summarises intent, making it easier to safely manage calls. Privacy Alerts use machine learning to proactively notify users in real time when apps with device admin privileges unnecessarily attempt to access sensitive data, such as precise locations, call logs, or contacts. These alerts help users quickly understand when apps are seeking deeper access so they can manage permissions with greater clarity and control.

Private Album, built directly into the Gallery, lets users easily hide selected photos and videos without creating a separate folder or signing into a Samsung Account. To stay ahead of emerging threats, the Galaxy S26 also extends Samsung’s innovation in post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to critical system processes, including software verification and firmware protection, strengthening device integrity for the future.

New updates to Knox Matrix further strengthen protection across connected Galaxy devices, adding PQC-enabled end-to-end encryption for direct transfers, like eSIM migrations, and clearer visibility into firmware update statuses across the ecosystem through the Security Status of Your Devices feature.

These experiences are supported by Samsung Knox, the multi-layer security platform that protects Galaxy devices from the chip level up. For on-device Galaxy AI, the Personal Data Engine (PDE) enables context-aware, personalised AI experiences. To keep this process safe, Knox Enhanced Encrypted Protection (KEEP) encrypts each app’s data, while Knox Vault adds a physical layer of protection that isolates sensitive data inside its own secure hardware. Together with settings that let users choose how AI features operate, the Galaxy S26 combines hardware and software to deliver a comprehensive, system-wide approach designed to keep personal data protected.

These updates build on Galaxy’s existing security and privacy portfolio, which includes Auto Blocker, Theft Protection, Private Sharing, Secure Wi-Fi, and more. These layers of protection are designed to give users greater transparency, choice, and control through Samsung’s continued mobile security innovation in the age of AI. With seven years of security updates, the Galaxy S26 helps keep these layers resilient over time—supporting longer, more confident use well into the years ahead.

The Galaxy S26’s ease of use continues even when the phone is out of reach. The new Galaxy Buds4 series is a natural companion to the Galaxy S26, extending everyday experiences beyond the phone while delivering rich and immersive hi-fi sound. When the Galaxy S26 is paired with the Galaxy Buds4, interactions can continue naturally in moments when using hands isn’t practical. Users can activate AI agents with their voices, manage calls through simple Head Gestures on the Buds4 Pro, and stay connected without breaking their flow.

Availability

The Galaxy S26 Ultra, S26+, and S26 will be available for pre-order from 26 February to 19 March 2026. Customers can double their storage and save up to R5,000 in an exclusive pre-order offer. The Galaxy S26 series features a unified design language across all models, with shared colour options including Cobalt Violet, White, Black, and Sky Blue.

For added peace of mind, Samsung Care+ offers comprehensive coverage from a once-off fee of just R799. Samsung Care+ is optimised for users' device needs, including fast repairs for accidental damage, an extended warranty, and certified expert support available both at home and abroad. This ensures a seamless mobile lifestyle and provides lasting protection that safeguards the value of Galaxy devices.

The Galaxy S26 series will be available at these recommended retail prices: Galaxy S26 Ultra 256GB from R30,999, Galaxy S26 Plus 256GB from R25,999, and Galaxy S26 256GB from R20,999.

Supplied by: Samsung South Africa.

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