Samsung Unveils Galaxy S26 Lineup, Buds 4 Family and Confirms March 11 Launch
The company unveiled a new Galaxy S26 series and two sets of earbuds today, and placed all the new devices up for pre-order with an official launch set for March 11th. A reporter who has covered samsung and its competitors for years — focusing on phones, smartwatches, earbuds and fitness trackers — framed the event as the latest in the brand’s predictable February cycle.
Samsung Galaxy S26 lineup
Samsung confirmed a three-model S26 family: the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus and Galaxy S26 Ultra. All three phones now start at 256GB of storage, raised from the 128GB entry point used on the S25 and S25 Plus. The lineup also includes a new internal chip designed to speed up everyday tasks and power new AI software features.
Galaxy S26 pricing and storage
The baseline storage increase carries a direct price impact: both the S26 and S26 Plus start at 256GB and are $100 more expensive than last year’s equivalents. Those retail prices are $899 for the S26 and $1, 099 for the S26 Plus. The S26 Ultra retains an unchanged starting price of $1, 299 compared with last year’s S25 Ultra.
S26 and S26 Plus hardware changes
Hardware updates on the two smaller models are modest but measurable. The Galaxy S26 gains a slightly larger battery — 4, 300 mAh up from 4, 000 mAh on its predecessor — and the S26 Plus gets slightly faster wireless charging. Samsung also introduced a built-in, customizable privacy screen that lets users dim specific interface elements to onlookers, including notifications and password screens.
Galaxy S26 Ultra cameras and charging
The S26 Ultra focuses on camera and charging upgrades: Samsung says the Ultra has improved cameras and faster wired and wireless charging. Despite those upgrades, the Ultra’s starting price remains $1, 299, unchanged from the S25 Ultra.
Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro design and battery
Alongside the phones, Samsung announced two new earbuds: Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. Both adopt a new look with smoother, rounded eartips that contrast with the Buds 3’s sharp, triangular stem shape. The Buds 4 are the budget option and omit rubber eartips for a semi-open design likened to Apple AirPods 4; they offer up to six hours of battery life on a charge and an additional 30 hours with the charging case. The Buds 4 Pro are the premium model with traditional rubber eartips and provide up to seven hours of battery life plus 30 more hours from their charging case.
Galaxy S25 Edge absence, summer lineup expectations and Galaxy Ring dispute
Samsung did not mention a Galaxy S26 Edge at the event. Last year’s Galaxy S25 Edge was pitched as a super-thin, super-light model compared with other phones in the family; its omission leaves the existence of an S26 Edge unclear in the provided context. Samsung typically stages summer product activity for Galaxy Watches and its foldable phones — Z-Flip and Z-Fold — and the company is expected to hold a second Galaxy Unpacked event in the summer for those devices.
The company’s ring product remains entangled in legal action. The Samsung Galaxy Ring launched in summer 2024 and was promptly met with a patent-infringement lawsuit from Oura, maker of the Oura Ring. Samsung has previously filed similar patent suits against smart-ring makers including Ultrahuman, RingConn and Zepp Health, and Samsung has filed a counter suit against Oura. Those legal moves have muddied the product’s outlook: the fate of the Galaxy Ring is described as more uncertain than other Samsung devices, and it is unclear in the provided context when a Galaxy Ring 2 might arrive on store shelves.
All the announced devices and earbuds are available for pre-order today and will ship on March 11th. What makes this notable is the combination of steady timing — Samsung has launched phones and earbuds in February for more than five years — and incremental hardware shifts that both raise entry-level storage and increase prices, while preserving flagship pricing for the Ultra model.
