Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026: Everything You Need to Know Before February 25

Alright, so Samsung just dropped the official invites for Unpacked 2026 and I'm gonna tell you right now — there's basically nothing left to surprise us. The leaks this year have been absolutely wild. We've got full spec sheets, official renders in every single color, pricing for multiple regions, and even hands-on details about software features that haven't been announced yet. It's kind of ridiculous how much we already know.

But that's exactly why I wanted to put this together for you. Instead of you piecing it all together from fifty different leaks and rumors, let me just lay it all out — what Samsung's bringing, what I think actually matters, and where I think they're dropping the ball. Because there's definitely some of that going on too.

Samsung's tagline for the event is "The Next AI Phone Makes Your Life Easier." So yeah, get ready for a whole lot of AI talk on stage. But there's actually some cool stuff buried under all the marketing fluff. Let's get into it.

What's Coming: S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra

No curveballs here — we're getting the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra. If you were hoping Samsung would shake things up with the lineup, that's not happening this time around. Remember the Galaxy S25 Edge? Yeah, that didn't exactly fly off shelves. Word is Samsung isn't doing a follow-up at this event, and the Plus model is sticking around after some confusing reports said it was getting axed.

Everything points to a release date of March 11, with pre-orders going live right after the event wraps on February 25. Here's the full breakdown based on what's leaked so far:

One thing worth noting off the top — Samsung killed the 128GB option entirely. So if you were used to grabbing the cheapest Galaxy S flagship, that entry point just went up. You're starting at 256GB across the board now. That's nice for storage, not so nice for your wallet.

Also, all three models are getting Gorilla Armor 2 this time around, which is Samsung's anti-reflective, scratch-resistant glass. That used to be an Ultra exclusive. So that's a win for the regular S26 and S26+ buyers.

Let's Talk About the Ultra

This is the phone most of you are here for, so let me give it to you straight. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is a freaking beast. Early Geekbench numbers are showing single-core scores around 3,600 and multi-core around 10,600. To put that in perspective, that's about 16% faster than last year's chip in single-core, and it actually edges out the Apple A19 Pro by roughly 6% in multi-core. I don't throw around Apple comparisons lightly — that's a real achievement from Qualcomm.

Camera-wise, the 200MP main sensor is back, but this time with an f/1.4 aperture. That's wider than before and it should make a real difference when you're shooting in dimmer conditions. The 50MP 5x periscope telephoto and 50MP ultrawide are still there too, and both got aperture bumps. Now look — on paper, "slightly wider aperture" doesn't sound exciting. But if you've ever taken a photo at a restaurant or a concert and it came out looking like garbage, that's exactly the kind of thing better aperture fixes. It matters.

Charging finally gets an upgrade to 60W wired. Samsung has been dragging their feet on this for years while companies like OnePlus and Xiaomi are out here doing 100W, 120W, some even pushing 200W. So 60W isn't going to blow anyone's mind, but at least Samsung is moving in the right direction. Wireless goes up to 25W on the Ultra too.

Now here's where I start getting annoyed. The battery is still 5,000mAh. Same as last year. Same as the year before. Meanwhile, I'm reviewing phones from Chinese brands with 6,500 to 7,500mAh batteries that are just as thin. Google put 5,200mAh in the Pixel 10 Pro XL. There's really no excuse for Samsung not to bump this up, especially on a phone that costs over $1,300.

Case in point: still no built-in Qi2 magnets. Again. The Pixel 10 has them. Samsung's answer is to sell you a magnetic case separately. It's 2026, just put the magnets in the phone. I don't understand the holdup.

And then there's the base S26 — 25W wired charging. On a phone that'll probably cost around $800. Twenty. Five. Watts. That's honestly kind of embarrassing in 2026. The S26+ gets 45W which is more reasonable, but that base model charging speed is rough.

The AI Stuff — And Why Some of It Is Actually Cool

I know, I know. Every phone launch is "all about AI" now and most of the time it's a bunch of features you'll use once and forget about. But Samsung actually has a couple of things cooking in One UI 8.5 that caught my attention.

The Privacy Display is the thing I'm most interested in from this entire launch. Forget the spec bumps — this is the kind of feature that changes how you actually use your phone day to day. Anyone who's ever tried to check a bank notification on a crowded subway knows exactly what I'm talking about. And it's not some janky software filter either. It's built into the panel itself, adjusting individual pixels to block side-angle viewing without killing your brightness or color accuracy. That's legitimately impressive.

The Bixby and Perplexity thing is interesting too. I've been critical of Bixby for a long time because it just couldn't keep up with Google Assistant, let alone something like ChatGPT. So instead of throwing more money at a losing battle, Samsung basically said "fine, let's bring in someone who actually does this well." Perplexity handles the research-heavy, conversational stuff and gives you answers with actual sources. Bixby handles toggling your WiFi and setting timers. Everybody wins. The question is how it'll coexist with Gemini on the same phone, but I guess we'll see.

Samsung's Going Hard on the Deals This Time

This tells me Samsung is worried about sales. They're throwing out some of the most aggressive pre-launch incentives I've seen in a while, and when a company starts doing that, it usually means they know they need to work harder to get people to open their wallets. The S25 Edge underperformed, the market is tough, phone prices keep creeping up — Samsung needs this launch to hit.

Reservations are open right now on Samsung.com, Best Buy, and AT&T. Here's the thing — it literally costs you nothing to reserve. You're not committing to buy anything. You get the $30 credit regardless, and you're entered for the $5K gift card. There's zero downside. Even if you end up not buying the phone, that $30 credit works on other Samsung products.

So Should You Actually Care About This?

Here's my honest take. If you just bought an S25 last year and it's working great — stay where you are. Seriously. The upgrades here are nice but they're not the kind of thing that's going to make your current phone feel outdated overnight. A bit more speed, a bit better camera aperture, slightly faster charging. That's not worth dropping another $1,000+ on.

But if you're sitting on an S23 or something older? Now we're talking. Two generations of chip improvements, the new display tech, Privacy Display on the Ultra, all the AI features, the better cameras — it adds up to a pretty meaningful jump. And with Samsung offering up to $900 in trade-in value, the actual out-of-pocket cost could be way more reasonable than the sticker price suggests.

Look — this isn't going to be the most exciting Unpacked Samsung has ever done. It's a refinement year, not a revolution. But the Privacy Display is genuinely cool tech that I can't wait to get my hands on, Samsung is finally being smart about Bixby by bringing in Perplexity, and One UI keeps getting better. Sometimes the unglamorous updates are the ones that actually improve your daily experience the most.

I'll have full hands-on coverage right after the event on February 25. Stay tuned for that — I'm gonna tell you exactly how all of this stuff actually feels in person, not just on a spec sheet.