The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S26 is happening at a key moment. While there are no major design or hardware changes, this release matters because the industry is dealing with a serious memory shortage.
People are watching Samsung carefully to see how it will handle this crisis. The Galaxy S26 launch wishes workers the company’s strategy for 2026 and reassures the industry that Samsung is ready to address these problems.
The Galaxy S26 launch will highlight Samsung’s focus on premium features, innovation, and its leadership in on-device AI. We expect to see improved examples of how Galaxy AI can make daily tasks easier, like:
- Smarter notifications
- Better photo editing
- Upgraded translation and communication tools
How To Watch Samsung Galaxy Unpacked
Samsung will reveal the next evolution of the ever-expanding Galaxy ecosystem, meaning the Galaxy S26, at Unpacked on Wednesday, Feb 25, in San Francisco at 10:10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. You can watch live in the video above, and we’ll be reporting from California.
Samsung will introduce its latest Galaxy innovations that improve how users connect, create, and immerse in tech. The company says if you can’t attend in person, you can watch the live stream on Samsung.com or Samsung’s YouTube channel.
Samsung is expected to announce 5 new products:
- 3 Galaxy S26 smartphones (without an Edge model)
- Two Galaxy Buds 4 series earphones
How Perplexity AI will integrate with Galaxy S26
The Galaxy S26 series will ship with One UI 8 and Android 16, which are already available on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7.
Google’s Gemini AI is a key feature on current Galaxy devices, but Samsung is reportedly discussing adding Perplexity to the Galaxy S26. Sources told Bloomberg that Samsung wants to pre-load Perplexity and add its search function to the internet browser (Motorola added Perplexity to its new Razr series in April). A recent leak also suggested Samsung was testing a Perplexity-powered Bixby with the One UI 8.5 update.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is expected to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. Qualcomm says this chip is 20% faster and 35% more power efficient than the previous version, which was already strong.
Tom’s Guide reports that Samsung will use an Exynos chip, possibly the new Exynos 2600, in the base S26 and S26 Plus in some markets. For the S26 Ultra, Samsung may use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in all regions.
Recent Geekbench scores for the Exynos 2600 chip are promising. The data suggests the Exynos chip performs almost as well as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is good news for Samsung fans.
There are rumors about the phone’s RAM capacity. Some say all three models will have 16 GB of RAM, which is 4 GB more than before; however, Ice Universe claims all three will start with 12 GB of RAM.
Galaxy S26 Pricing
A shortage of DDR RAM is likely to increase phone and laptop prices this year, and Samsung’s CEO has nearly confirmed this for the Galaxy S25/S26 series. As this situation is unprecedented, no company is immune to its impact, TM Roh told Reuters recently.
According to South Korea’s FNN News, this could mean a price increase of $40 to $60 for each S26 phone with 256 GB of storage. If we round it to $50, the S26 would cost $850, the S26 Plus (256 GB) would be $950, and the S26 Ultra (256 GB) would be $1,350.
I’ll give you a $30 credit to use during the pre-order period. There is no obligation to buy the phone once it’s announced, so it’s an easy way to save $30 (and you’ll also be entered to win a $5,000 gift or use it on Samsung.com).
Source: Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026: S26 Ultra Design Leaks, Pricing Rumors, and How to Watch
