Samsung’s newest Galaxy smartphones—the Galaxy S26 collection—are all about optimization and AI. Introduced at its Galaxy Unpacked occasion in San Francisco, the telephones usually are not vastly completely different from final 12 months’s Galaxy S25 models, however the firm is hyping up efficiency optimizations that purportedly increase AI processing. Naturally, there are a bunch of recent AI options baked into the telephones too.
The headline {hardware} change is reserved for the top-tier Galaxy S26 Extremely: the Privateness Show. It prevents stray eyes from peeping over your shoulder at delicate data in your display—no want to use a third-party privateness display protector. The Extremely in any other case would not look as visually distinct subsequent to the Galaxy S26+ and Galaxy S26; not like the earlier flagships, they now all share the identical look.
The Galaxy S26 collection is on the market for preorder now, with official gross sales kicking off on March 11. The Galaxy S26 and S26+ are getting a $100 price increase—seemingly attributable to a RAM bump, as RAM is expensive nowadays. They begin at $900 and $1,100, respectively. The Galaxy S26 Ultra stays on the identical worth as its predecessor: $1,300. Samsung additionally unveiled a brand new pair of wi-fi earbuds, the Galaxy Buds4 ($179) and Buds4 Professional ($249), additionally arriving March 11. This is every part it is advisable to know.
The Privateness Show
The Galaxy S26 Extremely has one thing you’ve got by no means seen on a smartphone: a built-in privateness display. This can be a hardware-driven characteristic; there are two forms of pixels on the OLED panel, one which shoots gentle on to your eyes, and one other subsequent to it that’s wider, permitting the sunshine to succeed in the edges. That lets you view the display from all angles. When the Privateness Show is enabled, the latter pixels are turned off, severely limiting what folks round you’ll be able to see. It is not simply blocking the left and proper sides of the smartphone like most two-way privateness display protectors, but additionally the highest and backside.
What makes it extra highly effective than your standard privateness display protector is that the Privateness Show may be personalized through the software program. You possibly can toggle it on for the whole display with a easy faucet on the Fast Settings tile, or you’ll be able to allow it for all incoming notifications, on a per-app foundation, or for any app that requires a pin or passcode, like banking apps. Samsung says it’s going to even work with its Routines, so you’ll be able to robotically flip it on through geolocation, like once you depart the workplace.
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
