Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra: Launch date, specs, expected India price and more
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra may launch at the Unpacked event next month. The new generation of Samsung flagships is expected to bring major improvements in display, camera, battery life and charging performance.
It is the month of January, and for Samsung fans and tech enthusiasts, it is usually the time when they eagerly wait for the next generation of Galaxy devices. However, this year, the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S26 series, including the Galaxy S26 Ultra, is slightly delayed. But if reports are to be believed, the launch is just a few weeks away, with the official debut expected in the last week of February 2026.
Ahead of the launch, leaks and rumors are already doing the rounds on the internet, giving us a fairly clear picture of what to expect from Samsung’s next ultra-premium flagship. From the new and bright M14 OLED panel to the next-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 for Galaxy chipsets, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is set to bring meaningful upgrades across the board.
From its launch timeline to expected upgrades in display, performance, battery, and charging, here’s everything we’re expecting from the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Expected launch date and sales of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Multiple reports circulating online point to February 25, 2026, when Samsung is expected to host its annual Galaxy Unpacked event. During the showcase, the South Korean tech giant is likely to unveil its latest flagship smartphones as well as new accessories and more.
According to well-known leaker Ice Universe, the Samsung Galaxy S26 series will be unveiled that day in San Francisco, USA, with sales expected to begin in early March. His claim was later supported by another trusted tipster, Evan Blass, who shared on X that the date is “100 percent accurate.”
Based on Samsung’s past launch patterns, retail availability usually occurs about two weeks after the Unpacked event. This means the Galaxy S26 Ultra could hit stores by mid-March. Continuing Samsung’s recent trend of hosting major Galaxy launches in the US, the event is also expected to take place in San Francisco.
Rumored specifications of Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
Samsung has kept everything about its upcoming flagship under wraps. However, the leak suggests that rather than a dramatic redesign, the S26 Ultra will focus on refining the essentials like improving display efficiency, camera performance, battery life, and charging speeds, making the phone more powerful and better suited for everyday use.
Display: One of the biggest upgrades may come in the performance department. Samsung is expected to introduce its new M14 OLED panel, which is said to be 20-30 percent more power-efficient than the M13 OLED used in the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Instead of chasing extreme brightness figures, Samsung is focusing on better battery optimization this time. We’ve already seen this panel in the iQOO 15, where it stood out as one of the main highlights of the phone, so expectations are even higher for Samsung’s own flagship.
design: Design-wise, the phone is expected to be slightly thinner, with reports pointing to a thickness of around 7.9mm, down from the S25 Ultra’s 8.2mm. That said, the camera bump will likely remain prominent, as Samsung is said to be using the larger aperture to improve low-light photography.
Chipset: Under the hood, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is tipped to run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, possibly in a custom “For Galaxy” version built on a 2nm process. This upgrade can bring benefits in both performance and efficiency. The phone is also expected to feature up to 10.7Gbps of fast LPDDR5X RAM, which could help reduce shutter lag and improve multi-frame image processing.
Battery: Battery capacity may finally be seeing an upgrade after remaining largely unchanged for years. The leak suggests that the battery size is between 5,100mAh and 5,400mAh. Even more interesting is the rumor of a bump in charging speeds. After sticking with 45W for several generations, Samsung may introduce 60W wired charging on the S26 Ultra.
Charging Speed: A report by Ice Universe claims that internal tests show that the phone can charge from 0 to 75 percent in about 30 minutes in laboratory conditions.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra price in India
The price remains the biggest question mark regarding Samsung’s next flagship. Last year, the Galaxy S25 Ultra was launched in India for Rs 1,29,999, and early reports suggest that Samsung will want to keep the prices stable for the S26 series in key markets like the US.
However, globally things may not be so simple. Samsung executives have already hinted at potential price pressure due to the ongoing global memory chip shortage, which has pushed up component costs. Korean media reports suggest that Samsung is still debating whether to bear these higher costs or pass some of them on to consumers.
In a recent conversation with Reuters, Samsung Electronics co-CEO TM Roh said that “no company is immune” from the pressure of global memory shortages and rising prices – including its own smartphone business, and added that price increases may ultimately be inevitable.
