If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone it’s about to look a little outdated. The technology giant has just announced its next Galaxy Unpacked event where we fully expect the unveiling of the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra.
Galaxy Unpacked is the name Samsung gives to events where it launches some of its flagship Android phones, but it hasn’t left much up to the imagination in its latest announcement.
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“The new Galaxy S series is coming,” Samsung said in a press release, where it said the event will take place on Wednesday February 25, 2026, in San Francisco.
“Join us as we unveil Samsung’s newest Galaxy innovations – marking a new phase in the era of AI as intelligence becomes truly personal and adaptive.”
You can tune in to watch the event live on February 25 at 6pm UK time on Samsung’s YouTube channel.
The Galaxy S26 series, while not official, is according to rumours what Samsung will announce - and the fact Samsung has said the launch is for “the new Galaxy S series” shows that’s what we are getting, even if the firm surprises us all by mixing up its numbering scheme.
This event is very likely to include three phones in the S26, larger S26 Plus and the S26 Ultra with superior cameras and S Pen stylus accessory. The regular S26 is expected to stay small and have three rear cameras, while the Plus model will offer a larger screen and battery.
Samsung is expected to launch the phones running Android 16 with One UI 8.5, a version of its mobile software currently in beta on the Galaxy S25 series. More AI features are teased in the above video as well as the press release, where Samsung says “The Next AI Phone Makes Your Life Easier”. We’ll see.
But a big change could be afoot for UK fans of Samsung’s latest smartphones. All three S25 phones ran the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, a slightly overclocked version of Qualcomm’s most powerful available processor at the time.
Although it’s expected that the S26 Ultra will get upgraded globally with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the newest high-end chip, according to rumours, in the UK and Europe the regular S26 and S26 Plus will come with Samsung’s Exynos 2600 chipset.
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In the past, Exynos-powered Samsung phones have been criticised for being less powerful with worse battery life than their US and Korean counterparts that have Snapdragon chips. The S26 and S26 Plus will very likely run on the 8 Elite Gen 5 outside of Europe, for example.
But the Exynos 2600 is said to use a 2-nanometer process, the first time Samsung has released a chip with this advanced technology.
Leaks indicate all the S26 phones will come with at least 12GB RAM, with screen sizes of 6.3-, 6.7- and 6.9-inches for the S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra respectively.
The S26 Ultra will retain the four rear cameras of its predecessors but may gain a larger aperture on all of them, including on the 200MP main camera.
It will be interesting to see if Samsung keeps is prices the same as the S25 range. The S25 costs £799, the same as the iPhone 17 and Google Pixel 10. The S25 Ultra sells for a whopping £1,249, making it pricier than Google’s £999 Pixel 10 Pro and Apple’s £1,099 iPhone 17 Pro.