Samsung Galaxy S26 launch as it happened — S26 Ultra, S26 Plus, Galaxy Buds 4 and more

Thank you

That's me done for this Galaxy Unpacked. Thank you for following along, and make sure you keep locked on TechRadar over the coming days and weeks, as we'll have insight, analysis and in-depth reviews off all the new hardware.

In short, if you want to know more about the Galaxy S26 series and new Galaxy Buds, TechRadar is where you need to be.

Color me impressed

Before I sign off, it's nice to see Samsung offer all six colors across its three new phones. It means no matter if you opt for the S26, S26 Plus or S26 Ultra, you'll get the same shade selection.

Which one is your favorite?

AI overload?

What I'm a little confused about is Samsung's promise to make AI easy and effortless.

But during the launch, Samsung mention four separate AIs on the Galaxy S26. There's Galaxy AI, Bixby, Gemini and Perplexity.

That doesn't seem very easy or effortless - but let' see how they all come together when we get to grips with the new phones for our in-depth reviews.

Wrapping up

Roh is back on stage to wrap things up. And we're out.

Just over an hour, not bad at all. I've sat through much longer keynotes.

Sustainability chat

And now onto the sustainability part of the presentation.

Samsung has expanded its use of recycled materials with the Galaxy S26 series, and there are recycled materials in every Samsung product we're told.

There's more Samsung says it's doing too. It's all very serious, but these things are difficult to monitor and measure, so it's hard to say how much change is being enacted here.

Buds pricing

The Buids 4 Pro will be available in Black, White, and Pink Gold, for $249

The Buds 4 come in just black or white, for $179.

Both will be available from March 11.

Shaped for all-day comfort

Samsung says the design of the Buds 4 and 4 Pro are so comfortable, you'll forget you're wearing them. You'll have to wait for our in-depth review to find out if that's true.

The new buds have AirPods- like quick pairing, just open the charging case near your Galaxy phone and it's a one-touch process.

New earbuds!

The Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro are now official.

Bass has been improved, there's hi-res support, and there's a bigger woofer in the Pro model for deeper, richer low frequencies.

Call quality has been improved too, with better noise cancellation and noise isolation on microphones.

Price and release date

S26: from $899

S26+: from $1,099

S26 Ultra: from $1,299

Release date: March 11

Pre-orders: from today

New AI photo editing

Galaxy AI can now combine photos when photo editing, allowing you - for example - to have your dog added to a picture of you and your partner by simply typing or speaking what you want it to do.

You can also ask Galaxy AI to dress you in an entirely different outfit, or restore the slice of cake you wanted to snap for Instagram, but your friend already took a bite.

And Samsung is tagging all AI-generated content with a watermark in the bottom corner. It's a nice touch, but easily cropped out.

A lot of S26 Ultra, what about its siblings?

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is the only phone we've been shown so far - feels like the S26 and S26+ might be a bit of an after thought. We're already 45 minutes in.

Lighting is only half the challenge...

The other is motion. Super Steady with Horizontal Lock allows you to keep a level horizon automatically.

Plus there APV codec support - for near lossless quality, allowing content creators to capture up to 8K with more data stored after edits.

Oh, and this whole live stream is being shot on the Galaxy S26 Ultra - that's a bold flex (and very Apple).

Cameras

We're now onto the cameras of the Galaxy S26 series.

The front selfie cameras have been improved for more true-to-life images.

Meanwhile, the apertures on some of the rear cameras of the S26 Ultra have been improved.

We're told the biggest changes have been made when it comes to low light performance for photo and video capture.

Check out Privacy Display in action

We've already had a play with Privacy Display. Check it out.

Screen time

We've moved to focus on display, and that means more details on Privacy Display - a world first for a phone.

Privacy Display narrows the light of each pixel, so your screen is visible for your eyes only. When privacy mode is off, all pixels work as usually for wide viewing angles.

What looks really cool is the ability to toggle Privacy Display for specific apps, and even notification pop-ups.

Honestly, this feature looks pretty cool and I want it on my phone, like, now.

There's even a maximum privacy mode to really lock down the viability of the screen.

Keeping cool

There's new thermal cooling for better efficiency, and a promise of all-day battery life and 31 hours of video playback on the Galaxy S6 Ultra.

The Ultra has the fastest charging ever offered by Samsung. You'll be able to top up by up to 75% in just 30 minutes.

AI gets faster on the S26 Ultra

Samsung is talking up improvements in NPU, CPU and GPU in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.

That should mean faster AI results, smoother gameplay, and better ray tracing. Samsung says it's console-level performance in your pocket - not sure which console they're comparing that to though.

Gemini can order your family pizza

"We're excited to share an early preview of Gemini's next experience" - we're being shown an example of agentic AI.

Dad leaving the office, and the family chat goes off as various members put their orders in, and change their mind. Instead of trying to figure it out, you can ask Gemini to handle it - from reading the chat, to placing the order in the restaurant's app.

You'll get prompted to check the order, and you can one-tap confirm the order.

This feature will be available first on the Galaxy S26 series, with a limited number of apps supported such as DoorDash and GrubHub.

AI agents

We're being hit with more AI chat. It's a little dense for the most part.

Google's Gemini is at the heart, and Samsung is moving from a traditional operating system to an AI OS.

Sameer Samat from Google is now on stage to talk about the partnership a little more.

Which is great, but I'd like to see more about these phones please.

More AI

You can now use circle to search to highlight multiple objects in one circle - such as all the items of an outfit worn by a model.

Now Nudge is another new feature, which can understand the context of conversations you're having in messages and surface useful information based on what's being said, allowing you to stay in the chat window and not have to jump between apps to find reservation details or photos.

Perplexity comes to the Galaxy internet browser

Starting with the S26 series the Samsung Galaxy browser is partnering with Perplexity, allowing you to use AI while you're browsing, across all your tabs and your recent history, to help answer your questions.

Better Bixby

Bixby is now smarter. You can now ask questions about your phone's control, like "how do I charge another device with my Galaxy?" and it'll show you reserve wireless charging. That's pretty useful

Enter the Galaxy S26 Ultra... but first, more AI

First, we're going to be shown the top-of-the-range S26 Ultra.

But of course, we're getting more AI chat before we get into the meat of phone.

Galaxy AI can do more than organise your life, by doing things on your behalf - like taking calls, and give you a summary of the call in real time.

World's first Privacy Display

A big cheer for the first mention of Privacy Display! But no details yet, as Roh whips through a few AI features.

Now it's time to meet the Galaxy S26 series. Huzzah1

Safety first

Roh also highlights Samsung Knox, as he highlights the privacy and safety features behind Galaxy AI.

Tech companies seem desperate for users to trust their AI, and not fear it.

Enter the CEO

TM Roh, Samsung's CEO and Head of Device Experience takes to the stage to kick things off.

He says AI is about to become "infrastructure", where it fades into the background and is always there.

Samsung is expanding Galaxy AI across its entire ecosystem, and Roh says AI needs to be effortless, offering everyone the same quality of experience.

Galaxy AI is designed to be easy and effortless we're told.

And we've officially started

As with many of these tech launches, we are first getting a video showing a little girl painting the box of her father's Samsung phone.

The themes are imagination and friendship - and there's a cardboard spaceship. To be fair, it looks pretty cool. I want one.

We're underway in London

We've started a couple of minutes early, with David Thompson, Samsung's head of training for UK and Ireland, giving us a quick intro before we're linked to the live feed from San Francisco.

The people have spoken, and they want bigger batteries

Almost one in three of you have said you're hoping to see improved battery life from the Galaxy S26 series. Well, so am I.

For those of you who missed my live blog entry earlier in the day, I was bowled over when using the OnePlus 15 recently. It has a massive battery and can easily last two full days on a single charge.

THIS PLEASE SAMSUNG.

"Activities will begin in 10 minutes"

The booming voice of god tells us. People are being called to their seats. Not long to go now.

How much will the Galaxy S26 series cost?

Well, that's the million dollar question. With a global RAM shortage driving up the price of consumer tech, it will be interesting to see how Samsung positions its new phones.

We'll likely find out the pricing today, but to give you a rough guide, here's what the Galaxy S25 series launched at.

Samsung Galaxy S25

128GB - $799 / £799 / AU$n/a

256GB - $859 / £859 / AU$1,399

512GB - $n/a / £959 / AU$1,599

Samsung Galaxy S25+

256GB - $999 / £999 / AU$

512GB - $1,199 / £1,099 / AU$

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

256GB - $1,299 / £1,249 / AU$2,149

512GB - $1,419 / £1,349 / AU$2,349

1TB - $1,659 / £1,549 / AU$2,749

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge

256GB - $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849

512GB - $1,219 / £1,199 / AU$2,049

Soaking up the atmosphere

In San Francisco, Hamish has nabbed himself a prime spot for the launch and is treated to a much grander screen and stage setup than am I. Lucky Hamish.

I'm surrounded by a cacophony of music from the DJ (who's currently spinning Gas me up by ITZY) and the hubbub of chatter as attendees file in, grab a drink and catch up.

Looking around the experience area where the new devices will be available for us to get hands on with after the presentation, there appears to be a faux shop setup. I wonder what that could be for. Hmmm.

I'm bacccckkkk, and in a new location

Yes, my "short break" was to travel Samsung's London event, happening at the same time as the main launch Hamish is at.

And I'm so keen to bring you everything from today's Unpacked that I'm the first to find a seat and settle in. No mingling and drinks for me. I'm committed to you, dear reader.

As we're in the final stretch before the countdown to Galaxy Unpacked hits one hour, I can't help but be curious about pricing. There's a lot of commentary on if we'll see price increases for Samsung's Galaxy S series, and our best hint might be a slightly reduced offer for Samsung's now annual 'reserve the next galaxy campaign."

It was announced, though, with some nice trade-in deals, and I suspect we'll see plenty of carriers and even Samsung itself offering compelling discounts to make the Galaxy S26 lineup a bit more affordable.

However, with no rumored major changes to the looks, we'll need to go hands-on to determine how the S26 compares. Either route, we don't have much longer to wait now. And here's a shot of Hamish with his badge. We should have some photos of the venue soon.

TechRadar's own Hamish Hector is en route to Galaxy Unpacked in San Francisco, California, but has already shared an early shot of his badge, though it doesn't give much, if any, hints. However, we did spot three circles, which might hint at the camera layout, and several lines.

We'll be on the ground soon enough with more as we count down to Galaxy Unpacked kicking off.

Will we see another Edge?

Jacob Krol stepping in to carry us until Samsung's February 25th Galaxy Unpacked kicks off at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (or 5am AEDT on the 26th in Australia), and one thing on my mind is whether we will see another Galaxy S Edge device.

Most signs, and many rumors, reports, and leaks, point to Samsung not ushering in a next generation at Unpacked. Instead, it'll be the Galaxy S26 Ultra, S26 Plus, and standard S26. That doesn't mean we might not at least be treated to a tease, if you remember Samsung first teased the ultra-thing smartphone alongside the proper unveiling of the S25 Ultra, S25 Plus, and S25.

It could be, though, that Samsung's going to show that thinness elsewhere, with a reported S26 Edge arriving later in 2026, or it might not arrive at all. Let us know what you're hoping to see in the comments below.

I'll brb

I'm taking a quick break before the festivities kick off, but I'm leaving you in the extremely capable hands of Jacob Krol, TechRadar's US Managing Editor, News.

Are you following us on TikTok?

You're not? SHAME ON YOU.

Only kidding, that's okay. I respect your social presence.

But we do have Hamish Hector out in San Francisco at the main launch event, and he'll bring you some delightful videos for your enjoyment later on today. So if you fancy seeing what's happening, make sure you visit TechRadar on TicTok.

Last year's view

I've been digging through the old camera roll and have uncovered a shot I look at the London launch event for the Galaxy S25 series.

I'll be back at the same location later today, so we can play a lovely game of spot the difference.

It's not just phones

If we look at the rumors surrounding today's event, there's a chance we see other products that aren't phones shown off.

One of the biggest leaks surrounds what look to be the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro wireless earbuds. There are some contradicting reports around these buds, so even if we do get to see them today, it's not totally clear what new features they'll offer.

Something which does seem likely is a change in design, with leaked renders suggesting flatter stems and a new charging case, compared to the Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro (pictured above).

• Read more: Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 leak suggests they could be missing a much-wanted AirPods 4 feature
• Read more: Two Galaxy Buds 4 dummy models have surfaced ahead of Galaxy Unpacked

SUGA rush incoming!

Fans of South Korean rap listen up, Samsung has confirmed BTS boy band member Suga will be making an appearance during today's unpacked event.

Samsung had a few of the BTS boys at its CES 2026 press conference last month, and the partnership between the two continues.

Have your say!

It's poll time, and I want to know what you're most looking forward to seeing from the Galaxy S26 series at today's Galaxy Unpacked event.

Wondering where on earth this mystical poll is? Just scroll up and you'll find it just before the live stream YouTube video.

The early bird catches the worm (if worm is code for double storage)

While we're still waiting for Samsung to officially take the covers off its "latest Galaxy smartphones", if you pre-order the devices ahead of their release date, Samsung will give you 512GB of storage for the price of 256GB.

That's a saving of £170 in the UK, but this promotion isn't available everywhere. I'm not seeing the double storage pre-order off on the US or Australia pages.

Oh, and we're now just four hours from the start of the event. Lovely.

• Read more: You’ll be able to double your storage with Samsung Galaxy S26 pre-orders — but only in some regions

Want to watch live?

Galaxy Unpacked February 2026: Official Livestream - YouTube

Watch On

Let's make this fun, folks. I'll be at the London launch event today to bring you all the news and analysis as it happens, but why not join me and tune in yourself from home, or at the office, or from the beach if you're fortunate enough to be sunning yourself on the sand?

I've even made it really easy for you, as there's the live stream video just above.

A reminder, the show starts at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT.

• Read more: How to watch Galaxy Unpacked on February 25 — and what to expect

Is this the end for the S Pen?

Something which struck me during the Galaxy S25 launch was the almost complete absence of the S Pen. Samsung's iconic stylus - which debuted on the Galaxy Note in 2011 - wasn't mentioned, and appeared in just one image during the event. It led me to ponder whether it could be the end for the stylus.

Well, we're just hours away from finding out if the S Pen is about to enter retirement, or whether it lives to fight another day.

• Read more: The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra could be the S Pen’s last dance

Will we get a 'one more thing' moment?

Last year Samsung teased us with our first look at the slimline Galaxy S25 Edge and a silhouette of the Galaxy Z TriFold. It gave the launch event some extra juice, and I'm wondering if there will be a similar reveal this time round.

While I was at CES in Las Vegas last month, I got the chance to try the latest software on Samsung's Galaxy XR headset. While the experience was a positive one, browsing the web and flying over the earth to different locations weren't exactly revolutionary.

What I'd really like to see is a first look at the Android XR smart glasses, which Samsung said during an earnings call last month, will land this year.

I want brilliant battery life

I was impressed with the OnePlus 15 and its HUGE 7,300mAh battery when I used it as my personal phone for a few weeks earlier this year. This is a phone with huge amounts of power, a large display, and can actually last two days (and sometimes longer than that) with actual usage.

In our review, we said "this phone beats everything by hours and hours - it lasted almost three days in my real world testing. Also it charges super fast, if you ever need to charge it."

The bar has been set, Samsung. Can you beat it?

• Read more: Our in-depth OnePlus 15 review

I'm hoping for more photo AI mastery

So what am I looking forward to today? Well, a feature which really stood out to me at last years Galaxy S25 launch was the improvements Samsung had made to its Object Eraser tool. It wipes the floor with Google's eraser tool, and many others I've tried.

So this year I'm hoping to see more AI wizardry that makes a clear, positive impact and – most importantly – is easy to use with minimal explanation.

• Read more: The Samsung Galaxy S25 series comes good on an AI promise eight years in the making

Hey everybody!

John here, ready to take you through today's Samsung launch event. I appreciate you joining us, and I can't wait to see what's in store.

It's another year, and another major Samsung launch to get the whole tech industry warmed up for the onslaught of exciting new devices, services and features in the coming months.

And just so we're clear, Roland has been extremely generous by digging out that rather old photo of me. I look less fresh-faced these days, but the energy levels are still here. LET'S GO.

And speaking of tech luminaries, I'm about to hand over this live blog to John McCann, a former Global Managing Editor at TechRadar, a phones specialist, a decent chap, and a man who often rocks a serious head of hair.

I've known John for a decade or so (!) and so I think I'll be leaving this blog in good hands, while I go and write up some interesting things I've see... make sure to keep your browser locked on TechRadar.

Speaking of Mr Ulanoff, he's usually at Galaxy Unpacked but unfortunately the snow in New York has meant he's not been able to escape the Big Apple to get to San Francisco.

But I'm rather sure he'll have thoughts about the Galaxy S26 series and other stuff Samsung might have up its sleeve.

TriFold teasing?

Moving outside of the Galaxy S-series phones, I'm hoping we hear a little more about the Galaxy TriFold today, such as its capabilities and any software features.

Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff went hands-on with the Galaxy TriFold and was suitably impressed, so I'm hoping we see more about what this big foldable can do.

All that being said, with some emulation Cyberpunk 2077 can be made to run on current smartphones.

Maybe I should get tweaking with the Galaxy phones I have in my vicinity...

Cyberpunk 2077 On An Android Phone! PC Emulation Is Getting GOOD! - YouTube

Watch On

But my Galaxy gaming ambitions might be a bit far fetched, as Microsoft pushes smartphone gaming via Xbox Cloud Gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

However, I think being able to run actual Xbox games on a smartphone without complex emulation could be really cool; not that I reckon Microsoft or Samsung are listening much to what I think.

I say this a lot, but I'd be quite keen on some form of gaming upgrade for the Galaxy S26 series.

I'd love to see the ability for the Galaxy S26 Ultra to use what's likely to be a good bit of smartphone power to run Xbox games, all via a partnership with Microsoft; Samsung has previously partnered with the Redmond giant.

I mean, I'm more of a fan of the Android experience on Google's Pixel phones. But I've come to accept Samsung's One UI and its approach to color science when it comes to phone photography.

So I don't feel like there's masses or room to make sweeping changed there; a little nip and tuck would be fine.

I'm racking my brain for what other upgrades I'd like to see from the Galaxy S26 series.

More battery life is always appreciated, but outside of that I sort of think there's not much else the Galaxy S phones can do as I think they already nail the Android phone formula.

I've never been madly obsessed with privacy, and don't go in for tin-foil hat conspiracies.

But having a feature that could hide my banking app checking while out and about, or obfuscate some embarrassing nonsense I'm looking at on my phone, might be quite appealing.

Pushing privacy

One cool upgrade the Galaxy S26 Ultra is tipped to bring to the table is a so-called 'Privacy Display'.

Supposedly this is a built in feature that can be used to make the screen appear dark and unreadable to sideways and over-the-shoulder snoopers.If such a feature works well it could be a neat USP for the S26 Ultra.

Or Samsung has just got a bit boring...

Equally, 70% of you told me you’re not hyped about the Galaxy S26, which signals to me that there's not a huge amount of interest in what's likely to be one of the best phones of 2026.

So maybe we've hit peak smartphone, and the excitement of generation-to-generation upgrades has withered.

I actually think the Galaxy S26 series could be one of the most iterative generations of Android smartphones ever.

This may not be a terrible thing though, as Samsung has somewhat perfected its flagship phone recipe.

Speaking of upgrades, going by some of the top Galaxy S26 rumors, I'm not expecting the Galaxy S26 Ultra or its smaller predicted siblings to be very different from the Galaxy S25 series.

New chips are almost a given, but I've not heard many rumors of new cameras or any major design tweaks.

Further to that, Samsung has previously boosted the vapor chamber cooling system on its most flagship of phones, so I'd expect the same for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

But with a new chipset expected, and surely some improvements on power efficiency and cooling, I'd very much hope the Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn't run to hot.

Now I'd take the the below news with a degree of skepticism, as even if everything is legit, pre-release phones aren't likely to be running the latest software and optimizations to get the best out of them.

So with that in mind, it's not hugely surprising that the Galaxy S26 Ultra could be running a little warm right now.

Beep! Beep! news just in: The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has been leaked in a hands-on video, and it runs worryingly hot!

Samsung S26 Ultra First Impression - স্যামসাং কি অ্যাপলের পথেই হাঁটছে! - YouTube

Watch On

Phones, lots of phones

RIght so what's the rundown? Well in simple terms expect to see a suite of new Galaxy S-series phones.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra will surely lead the charge as the main phone, followed by the Galaxy S26 Plus and Galaxy S26.

Hello there! This is Managing Editor of Phones, Roland Moore-Colyer here to take you through some of the run up to today's Galaxy Unpacked.