We’re approaching the time of the year where Samsung traditionally holds a Galaxy Unpacked event to reveal a new generation of Galaxy S-series flagship phones. And going by the naming convention for generations, we’d expect this upcoming line to have the S26 moniker.
However, if you’re expecting big changes over the Galaxy S26 family over the current-gen Samsung Galaxy S25 phones, don’t hold your breath – because the updates look like being incremental rather than revolutionary.
Still, there’s stuff to chew over, so I’ve gathered below what I feel are the most important rumors and information so far about the Samsung Galaxy S26.
1. Same design – but that’s not a problem
Most of the rumors and tips so far have pointed towards the Samsung Galaxy S26 series having pretty much exactly the same design as the Galaxy S25 family.
Some minor changes have been suggested, though. For instance, there’s been a hint or two about the phones having more of a camera module, rather than raised lenses on the rear but we’ve seen that before with previous S-series phones; I’d quite like to see a return of the Contour Cut camera module that first arrived in the Galaxy S21 as that was an interesting bit of design.
Keeping the design the same is no bad thing, however. Flagship phones have become rather iterative, which is boring for tech journalists but handy for consumers and brand building as it makes models easily recognizable and sets a standard for what people can expect, especially those on upgrade cycles.
I also think the Galaxy S25 series is one of the most attractively designed smartphones around, with even the large Galaxy S25 Ultra feeling slick and refined, to the point where I think Samsung has nailed the large-phone format better than anyone else.
That said, I’d like some fresher and more dynamic colours for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as the S25 Ultra’s options were a little underwhelming; I would love to see a British racing green option, for instance.
2. New chips – of course
As sure as night follows day, the Galaxy S26 series will come with a new chipset. Or even two of them.
Last year, the Galaxy S25 phones all used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 4 for Galaxy chipset, whereas the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ the year before that had Qualcomm chips for the US and China modes, and Exynos chips for the rest of the world.
That split could be back for the S26, only with South Korean models getting the Exynos 2600 chip and other models getting a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, likely customized for Samsung.
Given the performance Apple has been sucking out of its Pro A-series chips, you can place a safe bet that the Snapdragon chip at least will come out swinging, with decent boosts in power and graphics performance over its predecessor. How much this could make a difference in real-world use isn’t so clear, but as more AI features come to fruition, on-device performance could be the key to getting smart agents to provide snappy answers.
These chips could also support improved modems and facilitate better satellite connectivity, and I imagine some effort to improve efficiency and thus battery life will have been made by Qualcomm and Samsung.
3. Don’t expect camera hardware upgrades
There were murmurs last year about new camera sensors for the Galaxy S26 range, but the jury is still out on whether that will happen. If it does, then the sensors may be new but there’s no real chatter on them getting a big boost in megapixels.
Some early rumors have suggested the Galaxy S26 and S26+ could get a 50MP ultra-wide camera, but we’ve not heard much about that lately.
This is no bad thing, as the Galaxy S25 series all have strong cameras, and are worthy contenders for high spots on our best camera phones list. And I think rather than dramatically upgrade the camera hardware, Samsung will likely work more to refine its computational photography and AI-powered photo features with the Galaxy S26 models, as well as polish video capture.
4. Potential bigger batteries
A suite of rumors have hinted at bigger batteries for all the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Ultra, with boosts of 300mAh for the former and 200mAh for the latter. Not exactly big changes, but combined with potential efficiencies brought in with a new chip, those boosts could yield phones that last longer than their predecessors. But it’s looking like the Galaxy S26+ may lose out in the battery upgrade department.
Don’t expect any big boosts in charging either, as there’s no solid hint on improved charging wattage. But that’s not a huge potential disappointment, as the past few generations of Galaxy phones have all charged reasonably quickly without seemingly compromising on battery pack longevity.
5. February launch likely
The past two generations of Galaxy S-series phones launched in January, but all the credible rumors so far point towards a late February launch for the Galaxy S26 series. February 25 has been flagged as the likely day of a Galaxy Unpacked event where we can expect the new phones to make their debut.
Samsung has launched Galaxy phones in February in the past, so this isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s some four to six weeks later than usual. I hope that means we get super-refined flagship phones.
Safely, a price hike is also on the cards, but only between $30 / £22 / AU$45 and $50 / £37 / AU$75, compared to the previous generation. Given the price rises a lot of products are subject to right now, this seems palatable, though hardly ideal.
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