Samsung S26 Ultra Debut Leads Galaxy Unpacked: Specs, Prices, AI Push and New Buds
The Samsung S26 Ultra took center stage at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on Wednesday, anchoring a trio of iterative smartphones while the company also introduced two new earphones and expanded its AI assistant lineup.
Event highlights and promotional notes
The Unpacked presentation in San Francisco showcased three new phones, a pair of new earbuds, and a heavy focus on AI assistants and agents. Coverage included promotional messaging inviting readers to "Save up to $680 on your pass with Super Early Bird rates" and reiterating "Save up to $680 on your Disrupt 2026 pass. Ends February 27. "
Samsung S26 Ultra: flagship hardware and S-Pen support
The Samsung S26 Ultra is presented as the series flagship. It ships with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a 6. 9-inch QHD+ display, and a 5, 000 mAh battery. The phone supports the S-Pen stylus and offers a fast-charge claim of 0% to 75% in 30 minutes when paired with a 60W charger.
Cameras and display privacy on the Samsung S26 Ultra
The S26 Ultra retains a wide 200-megapixel sensor and a 50-megapixel telephoto sensor with the same pixel counts as its predecessor, but both lenses have larger apertures: the wide lens opens to f/1. 4 and the telephoto to f/2. 9. Samsung also added a display privacy feature that can prevent people nearby from reading what’s on the screen. Users can choose to hide specific areas such as the notification area or password fields, or hide the entire screen; the privacy display can be configured on a per-app basis. A “maximum privacy protection” mode further tones down bright areas while lifting dark parts of the screen.
Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus: shared processor, regional Exynos use and charging changes
The Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus share the same processor as the S26 Ultra in many markets, though Samsung will use its Exynos 2600 processor for those devices in some geographies. The smaller Galaxy S26 receives a battery increase compared with last year’s model, while the S26 Plus adds 20W wireless charging. The three models are described as iterative updates relative to their predecessors rather than wholesale redesigns.
Pricing across the Galaxy S26 line
Samsung positioned the new lineup at higher entry prices: the Galaxy S26 starts at $899, $100 higher than last year’s starting price; the Galaxy S26 Plus starts at $1, 099, also $100 more than its predecessor’s entry; and the Samsung S26 Ultra starts at $1, 200.
AI announcements, assistants and Perplexity partnership
Google made two notable announcements during the event: a preview of an agentic version of Gemini that can act on users’ behalf — examples include hailing a cab from Uber — and an updated Circle to Search that uses multi-object recognition to search anything highlighted on a phone display. Samir Samat, head of Android ecosystem at Google, demonstrated Gemini analyzing a group chat and determining a meal order it could place on Grubhub. Earlier in the week, Samsung announced a partnership with Perplexity to pre-load that company’s app on its smartphones and to use Perplexity’s APIs for tasks like setting alarms, taking notes, and powering browser search. Samsung’s new phones will include three AI assistants: Bixby, Google Gemini, and Perplexity, and Galaxy AI features were expanded to screen calls and generate summaries of what callers say.
New Buds: Galaxy Buds4 and Buds4 Pro
Alongside the phones, Samsung introduced two earphones: the Galaxy Buds4 and the Galaxy Buds4 Pro. Both adopt a flatter stem design compared with previous models and carry IP ratings of IP54 and IP57, indicating they are somewhat protected from dust and water.
Taken together, the announcements at Galaxy Unpacked emphasized incremental hardware upgrades across the S26 family, a clear pricing lift at entry tiers, and an expanded AI strategy that layers multiple assistants and agentic features alongside new privacy and audio hardware. Further details about availability and regional configurations were unclear in the provided context.
