We’re well into 2026 and Samsung’s plans for its Galaxy S26 lineup are becoming clearer. Samsung typically kicks the New Year off by launching its flagships, with this year’s unveiling coming in a bit later than normal —taking place in San Francisco on February 25.

You can expect the usual round of year-to-year improvements for the next Samsung flagship — a new chip, new AI features and a bigger battery. But rumors hint at a slightly larger screen and possible camera improvements.

Galaxy S25 Edge follow-up into the mix? Even that’s up in the air right now.

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So with rumors popping up with increasing frequency, here’s what we know about the Galaxy S26 — and what we’re hoping to find out.

Galaxy Unpacked event: February 25. That’s much later than the Galaxy S25’s announcement and subsequent release last year, but if history holds true, we should expect a release two weeks after the event.

The event is taking place in San Francisco, kicking off at 1:00 p.m ET / 10 a.m. PT. There hasn’t been word about an exact venue for the event, but it’ll be live streamed through Samsung’s various channels.

rising parts costs, the price of the phones will increase in turn. But this isn’t guaranteed — Samsung could just choose to eat the increased costs to make sure its phones remain a similar price as its competitors.

Prices on Samsung flagships currently start at $799 for the Galaxy S25. The Plus model costs $999 while the Galaxy S25 Edge debuted at $1,099. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is the most expensive phone in the lineup, starting at $1,299. Until we hear otherwise, expect the 2026 versions of those phones to cost in the same neighborhood.

A new report has appeared that indicates that the Galaxy S26 could see a price increase in Korea. According to the report, the rising prices of DRAM and NAND have led to Samsung considering an increase of 44,000 to 88,000 won. However, it appears that the company may keep the same price within the U.S. and U.K. markets to help push global sales.

Galaxy S25 FE. That sparked talk that Samsung was planning on shrinking the number of Galaxy S26 models it released, with a Galaxy S26 Edge taking the place of the Galaxy S26 Plus. In that same scenario, the standard model could have gotten a new Galaxy S26 Pro moniker.

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That talk has dried up, as apparently Galaxy S25 Edge sales have not gone well. Reportedly, that’s convinced Samsung to drop work on an S26 Edge. Instead, current rumors suggest we’re getting the same array of phones we’ve had for years — a standard model, a Plus version, and an Ultra phone. (That said, a separate report says the Galaxy S26 Edge hasn’t been cancelled.)

won’t look all that different from its predecessor.

And that goes for the rest of the lineup if the latest leak-based renders are anything to go by. They show a standard S26 that’s indistinguishable from the S25.

Leaked render of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus

(Image credit: Android Headlines / OnLeaks)

Speaking of Apple’s rival device, Samsung may be taking further inspiration, according to alleged images of the S26 Ultra’s display, which show it has rounder corners than previous Galaxy S Ultra models. Combined with a potential bright orange color to match the iPhone 17 Pro, Samsung could end up aping Apple to a substantial degree.

According to a recent leak from a known source, it appears that Samsung could be increasing the display for the Galaxy S26 to 6.27 inches and the battery to 4,300 mAh. This would mean that users would have a larger screen size, while keeping the same pocket-sized appeal. The Galaxy S26 Ultra may feature some extra height and width, lower weight, and the same 6.9-inch display, Ice Universe reports.

There’s some good news on the display front for the Galaxy S26 lineup. Leaked specs that also back up the increased screen size and battery claims suggest that Samsung is turning to an M14 OLED display. That’s the same type of panel Apple and Google use on their flagships, so we’d expect the Galaxy S26 screen to be brighter if this rumor pans out.

Speaking of displays, a recent massive leak of the Galaxy S26 specs from IceUniverse indicates the phone will feature a 6.3-inch FHD+ display with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The screen is also stated to offer a 1-120Hz refresh rate. If accurate, then this would mean the screen is only slightly bigger than the prior model, but otherwise much the same.

One other rumored change coming for the phone is the removal of the 128GB storage option seen in the Galaxy S25. If accurate, then the phone could instead launch with 256GB as the base storage option, matching other devices like the iPhone 17 and OnePlus 15.

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Samsung Galaxy S26 colors.(Image credit: Evan Blass)Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus leaked renders.(Image credit: Evan Blass)Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra leaked renders.(Image credit: Evan Blass)

Known tipster Even Blass shared leaked renders of all three phones, including the available color options. What’s apparent is that Samsung is launching all three with the same identical options, which would be a departure from previous launches.

we may see a brand new sensor, one that’s larger than before to capture more light — something that can greatly benefit picture quality in different conditions.

The same report that claims the Galaxy S26 screens are getting brighter also tips the standard model to get a higher-resolution sensor for its ultrawide camera. In this scenario, the Galaxy S26 would have a 50MP ultrawide shooter to go with its 50MP main lens.

The bigger change could come to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which may up the ante on the telephoto lens. Some rumors promise a 200MP zooming camera with 5x magnification, while others say the telephoto will use the same sensor as before. The trademark secondary telephoto lens on the Ultra is also reported to get a boost to 50MP, with 3.5x optical magnification. However all that pales in comparison compared to rumors of a 324MP main camera — though that may be a bit excessive.

Further speculation claims the S26 Ultra may see the return of variable aperture, something we haven’t seen on a Galaxy since 2019. The old implementation was a lot less flexible than what other phone makers, like Xiaomi, have offered in recent years. So it’ll be exciting to see what Samsung can do with it.

If you were expecting any changes to the selfie camera on the new phones, maybe put a pin in those hopes. A report claims the Galaxy S26 will use the same front camera that’s been in place since the S23.

Beyond the camera sensors themselves, Samsung may have upgraded other parts. One rumor points to updates to the image signal processer (ISP) in Samsung’s Exynos 2600 chip, which will help the final version of your shots look better despite other elements not changing at all.

The previously leaked specs from IceUniverse also give us a good idea about the cameras, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like much will change. The phone is stated to feature a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, a 10MP telephoto lens and a 12MP selfie camera.

Galaxy S25 series runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, you’d imagine that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 introduced by Qualcomm in September will power the next generation of Samsung phones. And that would be a great development, since our Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 benchmarks suggest big CPU and GPU improvements for Qualcomm’s latest silicon. And that doesn’t even get into the boosted neural engine that will fuel a lot of new AI features on devices.

However, a rumor suggests that the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus could miss out on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with Samsung instead turning to its own Exynos 2600 chips. That’s apparently a decision fueled by a desire to save costs, though another part of that rumor claims phones released in the U.S. and China will get the Qualcomm chipset. Of course, yet another report claims the Galaxy S26 Ultra will get an Exynos 2600 chip, too — a report we’re not exactly buying. However, other leaks have indicated that this will be the case, and Samsung has recently released a new video advertising the chip.

We should note that every Samsung phone release is usually preceded by these Snapdragon-or-Exynos rumors, and that usually it works out that at least some of Samsung’s phones feature the Qualcomm silicon.

For what it’s worth, a Samsung executive said that performance, AI and cameras will be the focus on the Galaxy S26 series, though no specifics were provided.

A new report from the FCC has appeared, which seemingly confirms that the Galaxy S26 series will likely feature satellite messaging capabilities. The certificates also seem to confirm that the U.S. version of the devices will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy.

with silicon carbon battery chemistry, which offers much higher power density than ordinary lithium-ion batteries.

That would essentially mean more battery capacity without taking up more space. It could also translate to a smaller physical battery that frees up room for other things. It all depends on which way Samsung wants everything to run.

Some reports claim that Samsung could increase the battery capacity on the S26 Ultra to somewhere between 6,000 mAh and 7,000 mAh — which would be an incredible leap upwards. Sadly, later rumors suggested that the Ultra model wouldn’t exceed 5,400 mAh. While larger than the 5,000 mAh battery in the Galaxy S25 Ultra, it’s not quite the spectacular increase from those earlier reports, even if it is a lot more believable.

In the months since then, we’ve heard that the battery may not be getting any kind of increase at all, with Ice Universe claiming that the S26 Ultra will have the same 5,000 mAh battery as previous Galaxy Ultra models.

Thankfully Ice Universe also claims that the charging speed will finally exceed 45W — later claiming it would hit 60W. While that’s something of a meme at this point, it’s about time Samsung pushed the charging rate to something that can better rival its Chinese counterparts.

However, in a subsequent post on Weibo, IceUniverse indicated that the 60W charging speed might not increase the overall rate by that much. In the post, they state that the phone could only reach 75-80% charge from 0% after 30 minutes. Still, it could reach 90% in less official tests, which can be quite conservative.

And the other Galaxy S26 models? Sadly, those could stick with 25W charging like many Galaxy S models before them. But at least wireless charging could get improved with proper Qi2 support so that you’ll no longer have to buy an extra case to enjoy the benefit of the improved wireless charging standard.

Once more, the leak from IceUniverse seemingly confirms these specs, with the Galaxy S26 stated to feature a 4,300 mAh battery, a slight improvement over the older phone. Sadly, it also seems to confirm the 25W charging for the base model.

support for other third party chatbots — not just Gemini and Bixby. Choi Won-Joon, the president and COO of Samsung’s mobile division confirmed to Bloomberg that talks have been happening, but didn’t specify which (if any) third parties could come to Galaxy AI.

Bloomberg notes that Samsung is “nearing a deal” with Perplexity, which would also see Samsung invest in the company.

Naturally, we assume that AI will play a huge role in the Galaxy S26’s software, especially with Samsung executives promising as much. We’d guess the new phones will debut with a version of One UI 8.