Samsung has officially confirmed a February 25 launch date for the Galaxy S26 series and is now accepting pre-reservations – it’s just a promo campaign offering $30/€30 off if you sign up for email notifications. We’ll talk about pricing later, but first let’s take a look at what’s new.
Needless to say, this is not based on official information. Here is a list of all the most plausible rumors related to the upcoming flagship.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (speculative renders, source)
privacy display
Privacy displays are nothing new – some laptops have them, but there it’s an “all or nothing” case. Either the entire screen is completely visible or it has limited viewing angles so you can see it straight on, but people peeking over your shoulder can’t see anything.
Samsung has come up with a way to control this on a per-pixel level – the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra (and only the Ultra, along with the other two models) will be able to set popups containing sensitive information to “Private”, making it harder or nearly impossible for others to read the unlock code received over text.
Galaxy S26 Ultra will have privacy display feature
One UI 8.5 will have smart controls when this feature is activated. For example, it can be completely disabled when you’re at home and automatically enabled when you go out.
The S26 Ultra will also bring other display upgrades, some of which are long overdue. It will have a 10-bit display panel. Yes, Samsung’s flagships are using 8-bit panels at the moment, even though Samsung Display sells some of the best OLED panels in the industry to Samsung’s competitors.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will have new high-strength glass
Additionally, the Ultra will feature a new high-strength Gorilla Glass. Presumably, this is a new formulation of Gorilla Glass Armor, with a special and distinctive anti-reflection layer (again, the S and S+ models are second-class citizens).
Those things aside, it will be a 6.9” display with a 1-120Hz refresh rate (LTPO) and 1440p+ resolution.
magnetic charging, kind
Samsung has adopted a stripped-down version of the Qi2 magnetic profile – wireless charging with a magnetically attached charger is supported, but the phones will not have built-in magnets.
Magnetic Case for Galaxy S26 Series
If you want to use the magnetic charger – and various other magnetic accessories like car mounts – you’ll need to buy a special case with an embedded magnet. Such cases already exist for older S models, so you may be wondering what’s changed.
Well, not much on the magnet front, but the charging hardware did get some upgrades.
60W wired charging, 25W wireless
Samsung phones have had a hard cap of 45W wired charging for the past few years. That’s finally changing, though only by the tiniest of steps – the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra will support 60W charging.
Initial results have been less than impressive – an S26 Ultra test unit reportedly managed to charge from 0% to 75% in 30 minutes. That’s barely faster than the older S25 Ultra, which got to 72% in 30 minutes. We’ll talk about batteries in the next section, but let’s say it’ll be a short section.
The company has already launched a new 60W charger dubbed “Samsung 60W Power Adapter” (model number EP-T6010NBEGWW). It supports USB-PD (5V, 15V and 20V) and PPS (5-20V) up to 3A. Its standby power draw is a very low 5mW.
New 60W adapter that can max out the Galaxy S26 Ultra
Samsung will also increase wireless charging to 25W from the previous 15W. We haven’t seen leaked tests for it yet, but we’re not expecting miracles.
Qi2 Samsung Power Bank was leaked last month. The EB-U2500 supports up to 15W wireless output and up to 20W input over USB-C. It has a built-in kickstand and a bar of LEDs that shows battery charge.
A new magnetic battery for the Galaxy S26 series
This magnetic battery is expected to be sold in Europe for €60. The most interesting thing about it is its odd shape – the cutouts at the top presumably allow the battery to rotate 270 degrees without hitting the camera lens.
Same 5,000mAh battery
You might expect that faster charging is a result of the larger battery. You can expect Samsung to adopt the silicon-carbon magic that has resulted in massive battery growth over the past 12 months.
Well, you would be wrong – the latest information about the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra battery is that it will have a capacity of 5,000mAh. This is the same as all S Ultra models so far. Yes, even the first model, the S20 Ultra. If that doesn’t put it into perspective, Samsung discontinued the S21 Ultra last week – it’s too old.
We’ve heard some rumors of an increase to 5,200mAh, but even if those rumors somehow prove to be true, that 200mAh increase would be negligible compared to what competing brands (at least those not named “Apple” or “Google”) have done with their latest models.
All Snapdragon, no Exynos
As always, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will get special treatment – it will use the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in all areas. Some early reports indicated that all S26 models sold in Korea would use the Exynos 2600 instead, but recent Geekbench results have debunked those speculations. It’s Snapdragons everywhere. The US model was also benchmarked with the Snapdragon. Of course, this is for ultras. The S26 and S26+ will get Exynos in some regions.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in all markets
It’s not clear at all whether this will be the Snapdragon “for Galaxy” version, which is what we had in previous generations, or what it will include. These specifications will be cleared on launch day.
There’s nothing new to report about memory – the phone will have 12GB of RAM and three storage tiers, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB, with a 16GB option.
minor camera upgrade
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will feature a 200MP main camera, a 10MP 3x mid-range telephoto, a tall 5x periscope with a 50MP sensor (f/2.8, 1/2.52”), and a 50MP ultra-wide (f/1.9, 1/2.5”).
We’d say there are no changes to the S25 Ultra, but there are – the 10MP 3x tele module will have a smaller 1/3.94″ sensor, whereas last year’s Ultra had a 1/3.52″.
Old Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Camera Setup
The camera lens is said to have a special coating that reduces lens flare, but that’s a fairly minor improvement for a year of development.
As far as the main camera is concerned, it is said to have a wide f/1.4 aperture. There was some talk of Samsung bringing back the variable aperture system used in the Galaxy S9 and S10, but it’s unclear if this has been incorporated into the final design.
s pen
Sorry for the short title on this section, but it pretty much sums up everything we have to say about the stylus.
S Pen in matching colors
Some people were speculating that magnets interfere with the operation of the S Pen and that is why Samsung has not adopted magnetic Qi charging. Whether this is true or not, the S Pen remains a trademark feature of the S Ultra and will be present in the 2026 version as well – there are no new features to report, but (thankfully) no cuts either (we all remember what happened last year).
year of linux terminal
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could feature a full Linux terminal. This would be a boon for all the developers who use DeX for work – and all those developers could probably fit in one room.
Jokes aside, this is a more meaningful change than it first appears. The problem was with the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) which was required to run the Linux terminal. This is on Qualcomm because Snapdragon chips do not support AVF – Tensor, Exynos and Dimensity chips do, Snapdragon chips do not have a key feature.
It’s unclear how Samsung will deal with this problem, but if it does, it could open the door for Linux apps to run on Ultra (without the need for a workaround).
“Something Smarter”
Samsung is already teasing the upcoming Galaxy S26 lineup and it looks like the new AI features will be a major part of the upcoming Unpacked presentation.
That feeling when you can see into the future. 😌
🔮What do you see in our future? pic.twitter.com/zA7XVAIzf3
– Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) 9 February 2026
This will include a smart Bixby with agentic AI capabilities – this means it will be able to interact with apps (HERE Maps, Uber, The Weather Channel, etc.) and complete tasks just like you, but won’t actually need you to do anything other than give commands.
Bixby with AI
design
Another brief tidbit – Samsung will be adding a small raised area around the camera lens this generation, but it could be purely decorative, like the larger camera lens ring on the S25 Ultra. Remember, the phone will essentially use the same camera hardware underneath.
Galaxy S26 Ultra in Cobalt Violet
Well, okay, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to be a bit thinner and lighter at 7.9mm and 214 grams, down from 8.2mm and 218 grams on the S25 Ultra. Cold. Can we renegotiate that 200mAh battery bump that isn’t happening? Because we are not sure we can feel the 4G difference. 200mAh might be more tangible.
Anyway, you can get a better look at the raised area in this leaked poster:
According to Evan Blass, the S26 Ultra will be available in these colors: Black, White, Silver Shadow, Sky Blue, Cobalt Violet, and Pink Gold. Pictured above is cobalt violet.
price
The base 12/256GB Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to launch at the same price as the 2025 Ultra, i.e. €1,470. However, the price of 512GB and 1TB models may increase slightly.
Keeping prices level is a good thing, given that skyrocketing memory prices will significantly impact the smartphone business – Samsung is already warning of potential price increases.
The S26 series will likely launch with the same pre-order features as usual, i.e. a free storage upgrade, additional trade-in credit, and pre-reservation bonuses.
Full (rumored) specifications for the Galaxy S26 Ultra
