February typically means new Galaxy phones, and that tradition continues like clockwork with Samsung’s just-revealed Galaxy S26 lineup. While the Galaxy S26, S26+ and 26 Ultra all seem similar to last year’s models on paper, they’re also shaping up to be the best jumping-on point yet for folks looking to join Team Samsung. They even have a few noteworthy improvements over what were some of the best smartphones of 2025.
Samsung also took the wraps off the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, which look to take on titans like the AirPods Pro 3 and Sony WF-1000XM6 with bold designs and the promise of hi-res sound and adaptive noise cancellation.
All of Samsung’s new gear is up for preorder now with a release date of March 11, but should you put your cash down? Here’s everything you need to know about the company’s latest smartphones and wireless earbuds.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 sports a bigger screen, a larger battery and a range of new AI-powered features.
The middle child of Samsung’s smartphone series retains its rich quad HD screen while enjoying the perks of a new processor and fresh camera features.
The standout phone in Samsung’s 2026 lineup, the Galaxy S26 Ultra sports a built-in privacy display and a range of new shooting features for its advanced cameras.
The Galaxy Buds 4 promise enhancements to noise cancellation, adaptive audio and call quality.
Samsung’s latest high-end buds look to take on Apple and Sony with improved sound quality, immersive noise cancellation and hands-free gesture controls.
I wouldn’t blame you for looking at the Galaxy S26 range of smartphones and thinking they’re last year’s models. Samsung’s new flagships stick to the same sleek, simple design that’s gone relatively unchanged over the past few generations. The one noticeable difference is a slight camera bump that houses the S26’s three lenses, which used to float on their own on the 2025 model. I do like the new Cobalt Violet color (Samsung sure knows how to do purple), which is sold alongside Sky Blue, black and white options, as well as the Samsung online-exclusive Silver Shadow and Pink Gold. The company also must have been listening to my complaints from the past few years because the entire Galaxy S26 lineup comes in these vibrant colors — no more boring, muted hues for the Ultra model.
The base Galaxy S26 gets a slight display bump from 6.2 to 6.3 inches, bringing it in line with the Apple iPhone 17 and Google Pixel 10. That said, Galaxy S26+ buyers continue to get the superior screen, with a 6.7 quad HD display that matches the S26 Ultra’s resolution and trumps the regular S26’s full HD. But the real story here is the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which sports a built-in Privacy Display designed to keep would-be eavesdroppers at bay. This is the kind of thing you typically have to buy a third-party accessory for, so we’re looking forward to seeing how Samsung’s solution holds up.
The standard Galaxy S26 does get a welcome battery capacity bump from 4,000mAh to 4,300mAh, which should hopefully lead to even more excellent battery life (last year’s S25 models got upwards of 28 hours on our tests). All three phones pack the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor, and we’re eager to see if that translates to any notable performance boosts over the super-snappy Galaxy S25 series.
Camera refinements and more AI
The Galaxy S26 series’ camera specs look similar to last year’s on paper, with the S26 and S26+ sporting a familiar trio: a 50-megapixel wide camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera for zoomed-out panoramic shots and a 10-megapixel telephoto lens for up to 3x optical zoom.
Meanwhile, the S26 Ultra retains its powerful 200-megapixel main camera, flanked by a 50-megapixel ultrawide and a 50M-megapixel/10M-megapixel dual telephoto camera, now with the promise of better “Nightography” video, steadier shooting and support for the APV codec for video pros. This setup led to stellar shots in our Galaxy S25 Ultra testing — Samsung’s zoom distance often beats the competition — so we’re looking forward to seeing if the company’s software refinements with the newest model makes the experience even better.
Love it or hate it, you can’t talk about a new Galaxy phone without talking about AI. A new feature called Now Nudge is designed to offer contextual suggestions. For example, if someone, say, asks to see pictures from your recent vacation abroad, the S26 will use that information to automatically find the relevant photos and suggest ones to send. The Now Brief has been optimized to better serve you timely reminders and important events, and Circle to Search with Google — one of the few AI tools I actually find useful — can now identify multiple objects at once for when you need to quickly look up something from an image.
The Galaxy S26 and S26+ are both seeing a $100 price bump to $900 and $1,100, respectively, which is unfortunately a trend we’ve seen on lots of top electronics over the past year or so. We like that the standard S26 now starts with 256GB of storage, but it also means that there’s no longer a 128GB option for folks who want to save a little cash. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will hold steady at last year’s $1,300 starting price for those willing to splurge on a premium phone.
The Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro look to take on the titans
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 series proved a bit divisive; we loved their audio quality, comfort and solid-enough noise cancellation but found that their battery life and AI-focused features left plenty to be desired. The company went back to the drawing board with the new Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro, which, at least on paper, could be a legitimate competitor to the latest titans from Apple, Bose and Sony.
Both new Galaxy Buds sport a refined design, which significantly trim down the overly long, OG AirPods-like stems from the previous model. And at around 5 grams per bud, they should hopefully be as comfortable as the last-generation model. They’ll be available in your choice of black or white, though the Pro model are also sold in a Pink Gold option that’s exclusive to Samsung’s website.
But what we’re really curious about is what’s packed inside. Samsung is promising some seriously strong audio specs, including the company’s “ultra-high-quality” sound and 24-bit audio support for folks on modern Samsung devices like the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy S25 and up. There’s also 360 Audio, which we’re eager to test against similar immersion options from Apple, Bose and Sony. You can expect active noise cancellation and ambient sound modes on both Buds 4 models, though only the Buds 4 Pro have Adaptive EQ and Adaptive ANC 2.0, which are designed to optimize sound quality and noise cancellation on the fly based on your surroundings. The Pro model also promises new Head Gesture controls, which will let you take and end calls with a quick head nod à la the AirPods Pro.
As far as battery life goes, you can expect up to six hours of nonstop playback and 30 hours total from the Buds 4 and a slightly stronger seven hours of nonstop playback with the same total from the Buds 4 Pro. That seems a bit behind the competition out of the gate (Apple promises promises eight hours of nonstop ANC playback and 10 hours without for the AirPods Pro 3), though we’ll have to see how that all stacks up in real-world testing.
This feels like an incremental upgrade year for Samsung, as the company seems to be keeping everything that worked on last year’s excellent Galaxy S25 series and simply fine-tuning in a few key areas. As such, the Galaxy S26 range seems most ideal for folks jumping into the Samsung world for the first time or who are upgrading from an aging Galaxy S22 or older. Considering how much Google stepped up its game for the Pixel 10 series, we’re especially keen to see if Samsung can take back the throne for the title of best Android phone.
The Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro also have a tough battle ahead against excellent competition from Bose, Apple and Sony, but the promise of a refined design with improved sound and ANC has us intrigued. We’ll have much more to say on Samsung’s new releases once we put them through their paces for proper in-depth reviews, so stay tuned.
When is the Galaxy S26 release date?
The Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra are available for preorder now and will start shipping on March 11. The phones start at $900, $1,100 and $1,300, respectively.
What are the big differences between the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S25?
For the basic Galaxy S26, key differences include a bigger battery and a slightly larger 6.3-inch display. For the Ultra, you can expect a new privacy screen that wasn’t present on the Galaxy S25. The entire lineup is getting a faster processor was well as a range of new AI features that’ll likely trickle down to older models over time.
CNN Underscored has a team of skilled writers and editors who have many years of experience testing, researching and recommending products, and we ensure each article is carefully edited and products are properly vetted. We talk to top experts when applicable to make certain we are testing each product accurately, recommending only the best products and considering the pros and cons of each item.
Senior tech editor Mike Andronico has been reviewing tech products for 13 years and has covered nearly every major Samsung phone launch since then. He looks forward to taking entirely too many photos when he gets his hands on a Galaxy S26 for review.
