Samsung announced its new flagship device lineup on Wednesday evening in San Francisco: the Galaxy S26 series, led by the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which received most of the upgrades. Preorders began on the same day, with pricing detailed below.
The main innovation in the S26 Ultra is the display, or more precisely its new privacy technology, Privacy Display. The feature eliminates the need for a physical privacy screen protector that prevents people nearby from seeing the content on the screen.
Samsung has developed a new technology that redirects light beams at the pixel level and controls viewing angles. The solution combines software and hardware, allowing users to decide when the privacy blocking is active, whether while using public transportation or only within specific apps such as Gmail or WhatsApp. Users can also set the privacy feature to activate automatically when entering a password on a banking website.
The display itself remains 6.9 inches, using AMOLED technology that delivers rich colors, a QHD Plus resolution, a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth interface motion, and the same Gorilla Armor 2 glass.
The Ultra is slightly lighter this year, 214 grams compared to 218 grams, and also slimmer, measuring 7.9 mm instead of 8.2 mm.
Another long awaited upgrade is charging speed. Samsung has been stuck at 45W charging for a long time, and now finally has switched the Ultra to 60W. While this still does not match Chinese manufacturers that exceed 100W, it is a step in the right direction.
Wireless charging has also improved, from 15W to 25W. The battery remains at a 5000 mAh capacity, and unfortunately there is still no built in magnetic charging connection for accessories, instead only being available via compatible cases.
Camera upgrades limited to aperture sizes
In the camera department, the sensors remain the same, with upgrades limited to aperture sizes. The setup still consists of three sensors, a 200 megapixel main camera with an f/1.4 aperture instead of f/1.7, a 10 megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and an unchanged f/2.4 aperture, alongside an additional 50 megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom and an f/2.9 aperture instead of f/3.4.
Samsung says the camera improvements focus on better detail in close up shots and brighter images thanks to the wider apertures. Video recording benefits from image stabilization that maintains locked, balanced stability.
The selfie camera remains 12 megapixels with an f/2.2 aperture, with Samsung saying tones and textures now appear more natural.
In terms of processing power, the device features Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor built on a 3 nanometer version and customized specifically for Samsung devices. Compared to last year, it delivers 19% higher CPU performance, 24% stronger GPU performance, and 39% better AI processing via the NPU.
The device body also includes a redesigned vapor chamber with material placed along the sides of the processor, enabling more efficient heat dissipation across a larger surface area. The device still includes a Bluetooth enabled S Pen.
Third AI system added to Galaxy S26
This is the third year Samsung has offered AI capabilities in its smartphones. This year, alongside Google Gemini and Bixby, the company is adding Perplexity to its devices. Users will be able to turn to it for task execution. Perplexity’s assistant will be called Plex and can be activated via the voice command “Hey Plex.” It can operate Samsung apps such as Gallery, Calendar, and Reminders, as well as third party apps.
Samsung is also enhancing in-device AI features such as photo editing. For example, if a user photographs a slice of cake, they can ask the system to display it as a whole cake, replace a wall background, or add birthday decorations to a table.
Additional AI driven improvements appear in Samsung’s built in document scanner, accessed through the camera app. It can now reduce noise or remove fingers holding a page. Users can also automatically combine multiple images into a single PDF file, useful for creating digital versions of receipts, forms, and notes.
Samsung has for some time offered an app called Now, which presents daily updates such as missed calls from the night before, step counts, and photos taken during the day. The company is now expanding this into Now Nudge, which suggests helpful actions to the user. For example, when receiving a WhatsApp message asking about availability on a specific date, a small window will pop up that takes the user directly to the calendar for that date. In another case, a message from a friend requesting photos from a recent trip to San Francisco will immediately surface the relevant images from the gallery.
Another useful feature is Call Screening. This tool answers calls from unknown numbers on the user’s behalf, asking callers to identify themselves and state the purpose of the call, helping users avoid unwanted calls. The main drawback is that the feature supports 13 languages, including English and German, but not Hebrew.
Most of the significant upgrades are reserved for the Ultra, but Samsung has also updated the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus. The Plus model retains a 6.7 inch display, while the base model grows to 6.3 inches from 6.2 inches. Both models use Samsung’s Exynos 2600 processor built on a 2 nanometer version.
The Plus model keeps its 4900 mAh battery, while the standard model’s battery increases from 4000 to 4300 mAh. Neither model sees improvements in charging speed.
Prices for Galaxy S26 drop due to shekel value rising
In positive news for Israeli consumers, prices have dropped due to the strengthening shekel. The Galaxy S26 Ultra with 256GB storage is priced at NIS 4,550, a NIS 600 reduction from last year. The 512GB version costs NIS 5,200, while the 1TB version, which includes 16GB of RAM instead of the 12GB in other versions, is priced at NIS 6,250.
The S26 Plus with 256GB storage is priced at NIS 3,800, a NIS 150 reduction compared to the previous year.
The base S26 model now comes with 256GB storage instead of 128GB and is priced at NIS 3,200, a modest NIS 50 reduction but with double the storage capacity.
As part of the preorder campaign beginning today, with deliveries starting March 11, Samsung is offering a free storage upgrade. Upgrading the Ultra to 1TB storage requires an additional payment of NIS 300.
Additional promotions include, with the Ultra, an original magnetic case and a 60W charging head. With the other models, buyers receive an original magnetic case and a 25W charging head for NIS 130.
Consumers can also purchase Buds 4 Pro for NIS 400, Buds 4 for NIS 300, and the Watch 8 with a 15% discount.