It’s been a strange year for Samsung: we’re already in February, and there’s still no official word on when we’ll see the Galaxy S26the company’s next flagship phone series. In previous years, the entire line would be revealed around CES, but Samsung seems happy to wait – and rumors suggest that we won’t see the launch of the Galaxy S26 until the end of February.

Samsung is not silent in 2026, launching the Galaxy Z Trifold for $2,899 in the US by the end of January. A month later — Feb. 25, if the rumors it’s true — the Galaxy S26 will be revealed in San Francisco before the biggest of the year smartphones show, Mobile World Congress, starts in Barcelona. It’s late for Samsung, but early in the year to set the stage for most of the other premium Android phones coming in 2026.

The stakes remain high for the S26 phones. As the world’s best-selling Android brand, Samsung needs to introduce enough new features to keep its high-end phones at the top of the charts, and the The iPhone 17 series debuted with many benefits that raises the bar. As generative AI becomes increasingly involved in other gadget categories, Samsung must find new, exclusive uses for the novel technology that will continue to differentiate its phones amid fierce competition at the premium level.

We expect the Galaxy S26 lineup to match previous years: a standard S26, a larger S26 Plus and a top-of-the-line Galaxy S26 Ultra. While the rumors do not suggest any major redesign, there might be some external tweaks and hardware upgrades, including the processor and cameras. Let’s check the details of everything we know about the launch of the Galaxy S26 series.

Overview of the Galaxy S26 line

Galaxy S26

Despite early rumors from Android Authority Suggesting that Samsung may ditch its baseline phone for a pricier, higher-spec Pro version, the latest leak maintains that Samsung will stick with its standard Galaxy S26 model. We do not expect many changes to the design of the model, although it will see the return of a raised camera bump after the Galaxy S25 they are kept flush with the back cover. Some rumors suggest that it will get a slightly larger 6.3-inch display and a slimmer build. The Galaxy S25 has a 6.2-inch display, for comparison.

Rumors vary on whether the phone’s cameras will be upgraded, with some suggesting it will get an upgraded 50-megapixel ultrawide and others claiming it will retain the 12-megapixel shooter of its predecessor. The phone is expected to run on either of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip in the US and China or Samsung itself Exynos 2600 processor elsewhere. Otherwise, rumors suggest that the S26 will pack 12GB of RAM, a maximum of 512GB of storage and a 4,300-mAh battery, according to the known leaker. @UniverseIce.

Galaxy S26 Plus and S26 Edge

Samsung is also said to be debating whether to replace the larger S26 Plus with the super-slim S26 Edge, but reportedly poorer sales last year. Galaxy S25 Edge Suggest that the pendulum might swing the other way: we might get an S26 Plus this year, as 9to5Google suggests.

The Galaxy S26 Plus is expected to have a 6.7-inch display like its predecessor and will be 7.35mm thin, but it will not physically shift. Like other S26 phones, it is expected to get the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US and China or the Exynos 2600 elsewhere.

Last year’s S25 Edge came out in May, so it’s possible we’ll see the launch of the S26 Edge later. If we do, leaks are reported to Android Authority it’s tipped to be 5.5mm thick, which is 0.3mm thinner than its predecessor — and, in fact, 0.1mm thinner than the iPhone Air. Speculation also predicts that it will have the same 6.7-inch display but a larger 4,200-mAh battery.

Galaxy S26 Ultra

Like the rest of the S26 series, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to pack the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US and China, while Samsung will use its own Exynos 2600 chip in other markets. Otherwise, rumors point to the phone packing 16GB of RAM, up to 1TB of storage, a 5,000-mAh battery and upgraded charging — up to 60 watts wired and 25 watts wireless, as SamMobile reported.

Another rumor from PhoneArena suggests that the phone will return to an aluminum frame from its titanium predecessors, as Apple did in iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max.

New Galaxy Buds 4

Rumors suggest that Samsung will release new Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro models along with its phones. Product images published by Android Authority show again the designs for the two models, each of which takes on the appearance of polished metal strips on the outside of the trunks, which should make them look less like Apple AirPods rather than Galaxy Buds 3. Like previous generations, the regular Buds 4 look completely plastic, while the Pro models have silicone eartips.

New AI features and Bixby updates

The latest Galaxy phones usually come with new AI features, and rumors suggest that the Galaxy S26 series is no exception. Samsung himself A new privacy shield is indicated to come to future phones (probably the S26 series) that will block parts of the display when viewed at an angle, protecting notifications or even entire apps from being viewed. The leaks suggest that AI is doing the heavy lifting to selectively render images only for those looking directly at the phone. Presumably, it comes to all S26 models, and leaks are not suggested otherwise.

The S26 phones can use generative AI to render images faster than ever before. Samsung’s partnership with Note AI Office has partnered in November, which aims to optimize the on-device genAI. This means bringing its EdgeFusion (a version of Stable Diffusion) to facilitate text-to-image generation by running it on Galaxy S26 handsets (instead of partially or entirely through the cloud), PhoneArena proposed, integration of Nota AI technology at the processor level.