Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026 📅: The Galaxy S26 series ✨, AI 🤖, and other products we expect on February 25 🗓️

Samsung’s 2025 was a busy year 🐝 defined by new foldables 📂, an ultra-thin form factor 📏, and the debut of Google’s XR platform 👓. Now, following some initial teasers at CES 2026 👀, the company has officially confirmed that its first Galaxy Unpacked of the year is set for February 25 ✅. While the event is expected to headline the Galaxy S26 lineup 📱, specific details remain under wraps 🤫 despite official invites going out. However, as is tradition with major tech launches, the rumor mill 🗞️ has given us a fairly clear picture of what to expect.

#Galaxy S26 series

According to the invites sent out on February 10, the festivities will take place in San Francisco 🌉 on February 25, 2026. The keynote is scheduled for 10AM PT (1PM ET) 🎙️ and will be livestreamed across Samsung.com, the company’s newsroom, and its YouTube channel 📺. The invite teases that this launch marks “a new phase in the era of AI 🧠 as intelligence becomes truly personal and adaptive 💡.” While that sounds like the same industry jargon we’ve heard repeatedly over the last few years, we only have to wait two weeks to see if the company has any genuine surprises in store 🎁 regarding AI.

It appears Samsung is sticking to a philosophy of refinement rather than reinvention 💎 for the Galaxy S26. Leaked images 🔍 suggest the company isn’t planning a radical redesign for the Galaxy S26, S26+, or S26 Ultra, opting instead to maintain the aesthetic established by the Galaxy S25 ✨. We expect to see flat front screens 📱 and frames with rounded corners, along with the familiar vertical pill-shaped camera housing on the rear 📸. Unlike Apple’s distinct shift from the iPhone 16 Pro to the iPhone 17 Pro 🍎, Samsung’s biggest upgrades will likely be found internally, specifically regarding the display technology, chipsets ⚡, and camera sensors.

Under the hood 🏎️, Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip is expected to power the entire Galaxy S26 lineup 🔋. However, a report from Korean outlet Yonhap News suggests Samsung may revisit its split-chip strategy, potentially using its own Exynos 2600 processor in certain regions 🌏. Regardless of the silicon 📟, these new devices should offer a solid performance boost over the previous generation 🚀. Models equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, in particular, are expected to excel at on-device AI processing 🧠.

One distinct change for the standard Galaxy S26 could be its display size 📏. According to specs shared by leaker Ice Universe, the new phone will feature a 6.3-inch FHD+ screen, making it marginally larger than the 6.2-inch panel found on the Galaxy S25 📱. The device is also expected to ship with 12GB of RAM 💾, storage options of 256GB or 512GB, and a slightly larger 4,300mAh battery 🔋. The camera hardware 📸, however, seems to be carrying over from last year: leaks point to the same 50-megapixel main sensor, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto, and 12-megapixel selfie camera 🤳. The Galaxy S26+ appears to be an even more iterative update. Aside from the new Snapdragon processor, it will reportedly retain the 6.7-inch FHD+ display, 4,900mAh battery, 12GB of RAM, and the same camera configuration as the base model 📝.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra, however, may offer more tangible differences compared to the S25 Ultra 👑. Android Headlines reports that the new model will feature slightly more raised cameras accented by a new metallic finish 🥈. Interestingly, Samsung might switch back to an aluminum frame for the S26 Ultra 🏗️, moving away from the titanium used on the S24 and S25 Ultra models 🛡️. The most significant internal shift may concern wireless charging; to fully support the Qi2 standard ⚡—rather than just technically working with it via a case—rumors suggest Samsung will remove the S Pen digitizer layer. This would require a new method for stylus input 🖊️, but it could finally allow the S26 Ultra to work seamlessly with magnetic Qi2 accessories 🧲 without the S Pen losing functionality.

Android Headlines also recently published what appear to be full image renders of the S26 series 🖼️. These images generally align with the rumors and leaks we’ve seen so far 🔍. If accurate, they provide a clearer look at the updated camera bump and showcase two of the color variants 🌈 we can expect for the S26 Ultra.

Finally, fans of magnetic accessories might be let down yet again 📉. Despite the Qi2 wireless charging standard introducing convenient magnetic alignment years ago, Samsung has been slow to integrate the feature directly into its hardware 🐢. While the S-series supports the faster charging speeds the spec allows, Nieuwemobiel.nl reports that the S26 series likely won’t have built-in magnets 🧲. This conclusion comes from leaked images of third-party cases featuring magnetic rings, suggesting Samsung will continue its strategy ♟️ of relying on accessories to add magnetic functionality rather than baking it into the phone itself.

🌐 Web browsers have unexpectedly returned to the forefront of the technology landscape. Mere days after OpenAI 🤖 unveiled its own AI-centric browser, Microsoft has responded with substantial updates to Edge’s Copilot Mode. The timing, of course, appears hardly coincidental. ⏱️

The features arriving in the browser now were originally teased during Copilot Mode’s debut in July. Headlining the update is “Copilot Actions,” ⚡ Microsoft’s solution for automating multi-step digital chores. While this functionality has existed in the standalone Copilot app for some time, its integration into the Edge preview marks a significant shift. The objective is to offload administrative busywork to the AI—handling tasks such as unsubscribing from a deluge of newsletters 📧 or navigating the friction of booking a restaurant reservation 🍽️ without requiring the user to click through multiple pages. 🖱️

Complementing this is “Journeys,” 🗺️ a feature designed to mitigate the friction of resuming long-term projects. Microsoft’s premise is straightforward: research is rarely linear, and relying on a chaotic clutter of open tabs is inefficient. 📑 Journeys aims to preserve context. If you are in the midst of researching a business venture, Copilot can now summarize the articles you have already consumed, propose logical next steps, and even retrieve that specific tutorial video 🎥 you watched days ago but neglected to save. 💾

To render these interactions more intuitive, Microsoft is also introducing an option to grant the assistant access to your browsing history. 🕰️ This facilitates a truly conversational experience; users can query the bot regarding a specific pair of shoes 👟 viewed last week or request entertainment recommendations 🎬 derived from actual viewing habits rather than generic algorithms. 🤖

Inevitably, granting an AI such deep visibility into user behavior raises valid privacy concerns. 🔒 Microsoft is quick to emphasize that these features are strictly opt-in and are governed by their standard privacy protections. Furthermore, they have implemented clear visual indicators 🚨 so users remain aware of exactly when Copilot is active and processing information.

Nevertheless, the fundamental reality remains: for these tools to be genuinely effective, they require access to a vast amount of personal data. 📊 It is a trade-off between convenience and privacy that warrants serious consideration before clicking “allow.” ⚖️

For those willing to navigate that balance, these features are currently rolling out as a free, limited preview, though access is currently restricted to users within the United States. 🇺🇸 🚀