Samsung Galaxy S26: Release Date, Price & Specs Rumours

Design

The design of the S26 line-up has been tricky to stay on top of, particularly as our understanding of the phones that make it up has changed drastically over the last few weeks and months.

Initial reports pointed towards a new ‘Galaxy S26 Pro’ model as being the direct successor to the standard Galaxy S25, while a potential Galaxy S26+ wouldn’t see the light of day, instead being replaced with the Galaxy S26 Edge.

On both accounts, these rumours now appear to be incorrect, or, if they ever had any traction at all, it’s clear now that Samsung has decided to go in a different direction with plenty of leaked images of the Galaxy S26 and S26+ having appeared. There are also leaks that indicate the dimensions of both these phones.

Despite initial reports that both the Galaxy S26 and the S26+ would be slightly thicker than their immediate predecessors, this no longer appears to be the case either. In fact, while the Galaxy S26+ will retain the same 7.3mm thickness as before, the Galaxy S26 will actually slim down from 7.2mm to 6.9mm.

Credit: Onleaks, Android Headlines

However, it doesn’t look like the S26 Ultra will get the shade of orange that you see above. In January 2026, a popular leaker revealed the six colours it’ll supposedly be available in: black, white, silver shadow, sky blue, cobalt violet and pink gold. If previous years are anything to go by, some of these are likely to be exclusive to the Samsung website.

Want more renders? These ones, published in late January, show all three phones in the cobalt violet and black variants:

According to a recent specs leak, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will also feel more svelte in the hand, dropping down to just 7.9mm in thickness and only 214g in weight. Given that the Ultra line has always been a bit more on the chunky side compared to most phones, any chance to make the phone feel less cumbersome is always welcome.

The one defining design feature that now separates the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra from the S25 range is the return of a camera plateau. This is something which used to commonly feature on Samsung phones, but in the era of the iPhone 17, it feels like an attempt to emulate Apple’s new design language.

This has been backed up by a handful of pictures showing the S26 range in UAG cases, with the camera plateau clearly visible. They also show that on the S26 Ultra, two out of the five rear-facing sensors will not be included in the plateau but rather sit alongside it, so Samsung hasn’t completely adopted Apple’s design in this regard.

As more details have continued to emerge, it now seems as if the Ultra will be taking a leaf out of the iPhone 17 Pro’s book by incorporating metal rings around each of its rear-facing cameras to create a more premium look.

The design of the S Pen will also change slightly, featuring an asymmetrical build at the top that allows it to blend in with the new curvature of the S26 Ultra around the edges.

Recently, I had the opportunity to see part of the real Galaxy S26 Ultra design in person. One thing is certain: it has finally abandoned the much-criticized, cheap-looking “vinyl record” camera ring design.

The new design looks more like the metal rings around the cameras on… pic.twitter.com/z7JMxZht7X

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) January 4, 2026

Arguably the biggest change of the bunch for the S26 Ultra is that Samsung’s flagship phone seems set to move away from using titanium in its chassis and go back to aluminium. Given that Apple did the exact same thing with the iPhone 17 Pro under the guise of offering better heat dissipation, it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Samsung has followed suit here, but it might make the older S25 Ultra more appealing to those who prefer having a robust phone.

Here’s a look at the Galaxy S26 supposedly in real life, as well as a video for the Ultra. The designs look as expected and highlight the size difference between the regular and Ultra models.

Sources: The Elec | Android Headlines (2) (3) (4) (5) | Ice Universe via X (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) | Android Headlines (2) (3) | Sonny Dickson via X | Smartprix | Ice Universe via X | Evan Blass via X

Display

Initial rumours that the standard Galaxy S26 would see a larger 6.27-inch display have now been corroborated by several sources, although that number has since been bumped to 6.3-inches.

While we don’t yet know for sure, it’s likely that this will be achieved by slimming down the surrounding bezels even further to retain the S26’s more compact form factor, which is one of the main reasons why Samsung’s entry-level Galaxy S models have stood out in the market.

Elsewhere, it now appears as if the sizing for the Galaxy S26+ and the S26 Ultra will remain unchanged from their predecessors, coming in at 6.7-inches and 6.9 inches, respectively. This doesn’t mean that the quality of the displays will be identical, however.

Luke Baker / Foundry

One significant display development on the S26 Ultra could be the integration of Colour-filter-on-thin-film-encapsulation (CoE) technology into the S26 Ultra’s display.

This technology has the potential to make the display thinner, brighter, and more energy-efficient. It could be joined by “depolarizer” technology, which would supposedly reduce internal reflections.

One of the most exciting new features (and one that has been leaked incessantly) is a layer of screen protection that can make sensitive bits of information almost completely invisible to anyone looking at the S26 Ultra from an angle.

The as-of-yet unnamed feature is certainly intriguing, particularly as so many of us use our smartphones as the key access point for our payments and bank accounts, but what kicks it up a notch is the ability to customise which parts of the display are blacked out.

For example, you can have it so that a notification pop-up is the only area that’s covered whilst the rest of the display is kept intact, making for a far more power-efficient means of keeping your information safe. It could also protect your PIN or pattern to unlock the phone.

Samsung’s already teased the privacy screen feature, so you can expect to hear more about it when the next Galaxy Unpacked event comes to pass, but so far as we’re aware, the feature is only coming to the Galaxy S26 Ultra and not the other two phones in the range.

This isn’t too surprising given that Samsung withheld its premium anti-reflective screen tech as an exclusive for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, so it’s a repeat of the same strategy to incentivise folks to pay for the top-tier flagship.

The top-spec model could also have a tougher display than the S26 and S26, with one leaker suggesting that the Ultra will get a new, “high strength” version of Gorilla Glass. It supposedly eliminates the need for tempered glass screen protectors, which are a common way for people to protect their displays.

Sources: Jukan | The Elec | Android Headlines (2) | Ice Univers (2) (3) (4) | Digital Chat Station via Weibo | SamMobile (2) | Samsung Newsroom

Performance

After several corroborating leaks, it seemed as though Samsung had decided to go all in on the new Exynos 2600, having the chipset appear in all three phones (depending on the territory).

More recent rumours now suggest that, similar to how it was with the Galaxy S24 range, the Exynos 2600 will now be siphoned off for the S26 and S26+, while the S26 Ultra will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 CPU in some territories.

Thanks to the same FCC certification confirming satellite communication on the S26 range, we now know that all three phones are practically guaranteed at this point to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset in the US, so any talk about the Exynos chip potentially making an appearance Stateside seem to have amounted to nought.

Still, the gap between the Exynos and Snapdragon chips seems smaller than ever, with all signs pointing towards top-tier performance from Samsung’s in-house chip.

Luke Baker / Foundry

Courtesy of X, leaker Jukanlosreve announced the shocking report that the Exynos 2600 has 6x the NPU performance of the already powerful A19 Pro chip (found in the iPhone 17 Pro Max), alongside 29% better GPU performance than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is the chipset that would have been picked for these phones otherwise.

It looks like the Exynos 2600 will also be Samsung’s first 2nm chipset, which could be a big reason for its performance jump.

So far, all we know officially from Samsung is that the Exynos 2600 is “coming”, as evidenced by this video:

Another exciting bit of news in the performance department is the supposed inclusion of a separate Exynos S6568 chip that’s designed to take on connectivity needs so that the main processor can crack on with other things. This alternative processor may have Bluetooth 6.1 support for a superior connection to headphones and smartwatches, all of which could vastly help the performance of the main chip in everyday use, particularly when it comes to temperature control.

If you ever needed proof that Samsung is always watching Apple’s latest improvements with a close eye, the most recent leak regarding the standard Galaxy S26 will do it. Just like with the strategy that Apple has employed with the iPhone 17, the S26 will have no 128GB model, kicking things off instead with a 256GB option and going from there. It’s worth noting that Apple was able to instigate this change without any increase to the price tag, so hopefully this strategy is also adopted on Samsung’s end.

At the top of the lineup, one leaker suggests there will finally be a version of the Galaxy S26 Ultra with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of internal storage.

Sources: Jukanlosreve (2) | The Bell (2) | The Financial News | Android Authority (2) | Android Headlines (2) | Ice Universe (2) (3) (4) | ET News | The Korea Herald | Schrodinger’s Leaks | SamMobile (2) | Ahmed Qwaider

Cameras

One of the most recent leaks has the S26 Ultra’s camera setup pegged as including a 200Mp F1.4 wide-angle lens, a 50Mp ultrawide, a 50Mp 5x periscope and finally a 12Mp 3x telephoto.

This isn’t too dissimilar to what’s currently available on the phone’s predecessor, but it does provide a slight megapixel bump for the telephoto (up from 10Mp) as well as a wider aperture for the main lens, which should hopefully result in a quality bump for low-light photography.

Luke Baker

Another bit of info to affect all three phones in the new range comes courtesy of Ice Universe on X, who states that the handsets will share the same 10Mp 1/3.94-inch ISOCELL for 3x photography. Eagle-eyed Samsung fans may have already spotted that the sensor isn’t all that different to the one currently used on the two cheaper phones of the Galaxy S25 range, which is a bit disappointing.

Thanks to a comparison between the S26 Ultra and the Vivo X300, we now know that the telescope lens on the former will feature a 1/2.55” sensor which, strangely enough, is lesser powered than the 1/1.4” CIS Isocell HPB sensor that Samsung Electronics has manufactured for that Vivo phone, which could put Samsung’s flagship device at a disadvantage by the time it hits store shelves.

Despite some rumours suggesting that Samsung might move over to an under-display front-facing camera for the S26 Ultra, it now appears as if the company has gone in the opposite direction. Not only is the selfie camera right where you can see it, but it’s also slightly larger than the cut-out of the S25 Ultra. With a greater stature, the new camera might be able to capture an 85° field of view, helping you to cram more people than usual into a group selfie.

Luke Baker / Foundry

For the other two phones, there are unfortunately no major upgrades to speak of. According to the most recent leaks from a prolific tipster, the front and rear-facing cameras of both the S26 and S26+ are identical to what we’ve seen before, so if anyone was holding out for an upgrade based on what the cameras might be, you may want to look elsewhere.

On the back, the regular S26 will supposedly feature a 50Mp main, 12Mp ultrawide, 10Mp telephoto and 12Mp selfie lens. The S26+ is thought to be equipped with the same specs, but it’s unclear if there will be any actual upgrades to the hardware.

Sources: Ice Universe | kro (Good bye) | Lanzuk | Galaxy Club | The Elec | WinFuture | Android Headlines (2) (3) | Fixed focus digital | Ice Universe (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) | Newsis | ETNews | Erencan Yilmaz | Ahmed Qwaider | The Galox

Battery & Charging

Over the last few months, there has been so much conflicting information about the battery life of these three upcoming phones that it’s been quite difficult to keep track of it all, but it now seems as though the dust is settling on a particular set of specs, which, if true, are unfortunately disappointing.

Taking the most recent leaks into account, it now seems as though only the standard Galaxy S26 will see any type of upgrade, moving from a 4000mAh cell to a 4300mAh alternative. This means that the Galaxy S26+ and the S26 Ultra will be sticking with 4,900mAh and 5,000mAh batteries respectively. With both of these phones launching after the huge leaps we’ve seen from like the OnePlus 15 and the Oppo Find X9 Pro, the latter of which packs a 7050mAh battery, it is something of a letdown.

Oddly enough, when it comes to charging, it’s the S26 Ultra that steps up as being the only phone of the bunch to see an upgrade of any sort. While the S25 Ultra capped out at 45W wired charging, after a recent online certification (and an accompanying Samsung charger quietly debuting in its online store), it now looks as though the next big flagship will have 60W fast charging.

It’s far from the 80/100W speeds we’ve seen on some competing phones, but we’ll take it. However, it’s worth noting that chargers often have a rating higher than the phones they charge and this would also just be a peak speed rather than what it can maintain throughout charging.

Charging on the S26 Ultra does look set to be 60W, but a leaked test result only shows it hitting 75% in 30 minutes. A decent number, but only a few percent better than the S25 Ultra.

Wireless charging on the S26 Ultra also seems to be getting a boost by kicking things up to 25W, up from 15W on the S25 Ultra. Again, while Samsung isn’t exactly leading the pack here, it’s still a nice upgrade to have, especially as the wider TA team are big fans of wireless charging and how easy it is to use when you need to give your phone a quick top-up.

By comparison, the S26 and the S26+ will be sticking with wired speeds of 25W and 45W respectively. Given that both of these phones are outpaced by cheaper mid-range phones in this area, it seems like a major oversight on Samsung’s part if this rumour ends up carrying weight. Even the budget-level Samsung Galaxy A17 charges at 25W, and you could buy several of those before ever reaching the price tag of the current Galaxy S25.

Given the upgrades that new silicon-carbon batteries are able to achieve nowadays, these upgrades seem fairly paltry compared to what the competition is offering, but there’s always a chance that even without any major upgrades, battery life could go further thanks to the advanced chipsets.

If the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and the Exynos 2600 are able to operate in a more efficient way with Samsung’s ecosystem then they may use less power as a result, in turn lengthening the time between charges.

It does seem however (based on various leaks and renders) that the S26 range could be the first Samsung phones to have built-in Qi2 magnetic charging support (aka MagSafe), matching what Google has introduced on the Pixel 10 series. While the Galaxy S25 phones are ‘Qi2 Ready’, they require a case to get the proper experience.

Indeed, the leak of a new Qi2 power bank accessory adds further weight to the suggestion that Qi2 will be built directly into the phones.

As mentioned above, wireless charging could be bumped to 25W, the newer Qi2.2 standard, which only the Pixel 10 Pro XL has in the Android world. This appears to be confirmed with the leak of Samsung’s new charger.

It looks like it will be 25W but this may just be for the S26 Ultra while other S26, and older compatible, Galaxy phones will likely be limited to 15- or 20W.

SamMobile

Sources: Ice Universe | Jukanlosreve | The Financial News | PandaFlash | Android Authority (2) | The Elec | Ice Universe (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) | Erencan Yılmaz | GalaxyClub | Digital Chat Station | Android Headlines (2) (3) | Momentary Digital | WinFuture (2) | Abhishek Yadav | SamMobile

Software

The S26 series is almost certain to launch with Android 16 as its base operating system. Samsung’s One UI 8, which will be based on it, is likely to run on top. More specifically, this is expected to be One UI 8.5, which looks like being a surprisingly big update.

Among the expected new features is an AI-infused overhaul to Bixby, thanks to integration with Perplexity AI. A new Direct Voicemail feature will offer transcripts of voicemails, just like Apple’s Live Voicemail.

Unsurprisingly, it looks like there will be other new Galaxy AI features, including a new image editing tool.

Luke Baker / Foundry

Although satellite communication in the event of an emergency is a feature that already exists on the Galaxy S25 range, it’s set to get a huge boost in the S26 phones and we know as much thanks to a recent certification from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States.

This new and improved satellite connectivity will be available to all S26 devices and should allow them to make calls and send text messages if the user finds themselves in an area completely devoid of network coverage. Having access to calls in such an emergency could be a game-changer in allowing users to more accurately describe their location to emergency services.

Luke Baker

Anyone who’s used a Pixel phone will know that one of the best exclusive features there is Google’s Scam Detection which can analyse the contents of a call and let you know in real-time if the person on the other end is a scammer trying to con you. This has long been one of a handful of reasons why you might be tempted to opt for a Pixel handset, but now it appears as if the feature will finally be made available to Samsung.

The likelihood of this being implemented is due to a handful of code spotted in the Phone by Google app which seems to name the model numbers for the Galaxy S26 range. Given just how closely Samsung and Google have operated previously, with features like Circle to Search, this olive branch isn’t too surprising but a welcome one nonetheless especially as anything that can prevent users from being scammed is a worthy cause in our book.

While not rumoured anywhere, we’d expect Samsung to continue with its class-leading promise of seven years of both OS and security updates for all the Galaxy S26 phones.

Sources: Tarun Vats via X (2) | SamMobile (2) (3) (4) | Bloomberg Technology via YouTube | Android Authority (2) | Abhishek Yadav via X | Android Headlines