Samsung’s S26 series has stunning new AI features and a display that can protect your privacy

Samsung has unveiled its most advanced smartphones to date – the Galaxy S26 series – powered by the latest Galaxy AI and boasting new features to power through daily tasks and workflows, enhance your photography and protect your privacy.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 (6.3-inch display), S26+ (6.7-inch display) and S26 Ultra (6.9-inch display) are available to preorder now and go on sale in Australia on March 11.

Samsung revealed the new S26 lineup at its unpacked event at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

“We believe AI should be something people can depend on every day, designed to work consistently for everyone and without the need for expertise,” said TM Roh, Chief Executive Officer, President, and Head of Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics.

“With the Galaxy S26 series, we focused on making AI feel effortless, working quietly in the background so people can focus on what matters.”

The new models bring together a slightly refreshed design, a powerful Snapdragon processor, one of the best camera systems you can find on a mobile device and the latest version of Galaxy AI.

The Galaxy S26 takes things even further with a new screen technology innovation – Privacy Display – which works at the pixel level to prevent bystanders seeing your screen.

This feature can be activated for certain apps and can even be used on part of the screen to block areas where notifications and passcodes are entered.

Privacy Display Uses both hardware and software to control how pixels disperse light which in turn limits what others can see while leaving things perfectly clear for the user.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series is powered by a customised Snapdragon 8 elite Gen 5 mobile platform for Galaxy which delivers remarkable performance, power efficiency, thermal management and on device AI.

The cheap offers significant improvements with CPU, GPU and NPU performance so the device can always deliver faster and smoother experiences.

And to ensure this level of performance is sustained, Galaxy S26 Ultra has a redesigned vapour chamber with thermal interface material place along the sides of the processor to improve heat dissipation and keep things cool and consistent.

On the camera side, the S26 cameras have the same megapixel values but the S 26 ultra has wider camera apertures to allow more light into the sensor which means even clearer and richer photos in low light conditions.

And that also applies to videos which keeps footage clear and noise free even in the most challenging lighting.

Another interesting addition to the Super Steady capabilities is Horizonal Lock which work with videos shot in portrait and landscape mode.

This keeps whatever you’re shooting steady and in the frame even if the device is or turned around or even upside down.

The result will still be a video that looks like it was shot with a gimbal.

And when it comes time to edit your images, the S26 series has an upgraded AI Photo Assist feature which allows users to move or erase objects in an image, add relevant objects using AI and choose photo styles in one single process.

And you can easily go back to previous version of the image.

Document Scan is another AI enhanced feature of the S26 series which can take a scan of a document through the camera and straighten the edges and remove blemishes, creases and even dog-eared corners.

The Galaxy S26 range brings together the most advanced Galaxy AI along with Google Gemini, Perplexity and Bixby to make it faster and easier to go from intent to action.

The device can handle multi-step tasks in the background.

For example, you can use Gemini to order a taxi and it will be as simple as reviewing the details and tapping to confirm.

The new Now Nudge makes timely and relevant suggestions to help streamline tasks and messages.

For example, if a friend asks for photos from a recent trip, then the S26 will create a shortcut to the images in question so they can easily be added to your reply.

Or if someone suggests a meet-up on a certain date, your calendar comes to the surface to check you availability.

These are only some of the example of the way Galaxy AI, working Google Gemini, can make your day to day tasks and interactions even easier to manage.

Bixby has also been upgraded as a conversational device agent to help you interact with other Galaxy devices.

Bixby can also help users navigate their devices and adjust settings using their voice.

Call Screening is another new feature which acts like your AI receptionist and asks the caller why they are calling and summarises things for you so you can safely manage the call.

The S26 series is also supports fast charging and can achieve 75 per cent battery charge in just 30 minutes.

The S26 series is available Cobalt Violet, White, Black and Sky Blue along with the Samsung.com/au exclusive  Pink Gold and Silver Shadow.

PRICING

S26

256GB: $1,549

512GB: $1,849

S26+

256GB: $1,849

512GB: $2,149

S26 Ultra

256GB: $2,199

512GB: $2,499

1TB: $2,949

* Stephen Fenech travelled to San Francisco as a guest of Samsung