Samsung Galaxy S26 is expected to launch next month – here are all the rumours to know

Itching for an upgrade? Samsung fans don’t have long to wait. Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event is expected to take place soon, and with it, the unveiling of an all-new Samsung Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra. But as with most big tech launches, the leaks are a-churning, and we might already know all there is to know about Samsung’s upcoming handsets.

Expected to launch next month, the rumours suggest the upcoming lineup could be a fairly iterative one. Leaks suggest the S26 range will boast a familiar design, a slightly upgraded battery and a new “privacy display” for the S25 Ultra to stop prying eyes, as well as performance improvements thanks to a new Snapdragon or Exynos chipset, rather than anything monumental.

Still, never say never. Samsung usually has something surprising up its sleeve. Below, I’ve rounded up all the latest leaks and rumours about the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26, from release date and price to specs, camera, design and more.

Unusually for Samsung, which has unveiled its Galaxy S series in January for the last two years, the Galaxy S26 isn’t expected to show its face until late February, according to multiple leaks. The first of these rumours came in late October, when reliable leaker Ice Universe claimed on Chinese social media site Weibo that the Samsung Galaxy S26 series had been postponed. In early November, South Korean outlet Money Today added credence to that rumour when it claimed that Samsung Galaxy Unpacked would take place on 25 February this year, almost a month later than usual.

The reason? Samsung’s reportedly quick and sudden decision to drop the ultra-skinny Edge phone from its lineup after poor sales. South Korean outlet The Elec reported in October that Samsung had planned to start mass production of the Galaxy S26 last December. But after the axing of the Samsung Galaxy Edge, only the S26 Ultra had been planned to go into mass production that month. The Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus, however, wouldn’t go into mass production until January 2026.

When exactly will the Samsung Galaxy S26 range launch? According to several reliable leakers, including Ice Universe, Evan Blass, French news site Dealabs and most recently Korean site News1, Samsung Galaxy Unpacked will take place on Wednesday, 25 February 2026, in San Francisco, with pre-orders going live the following day.

The Samsung Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra will then go on sale on Wednesday, 11 March. Apparently, Samsung is avoiding launching the phones on Friday, 13 March because it’s… well, superstitious.

Every year, rumours suggest the price of Samsung’s flagship phones will inch up. More often than not, that price hike doesn’t come to fruition. But with the ongoing RAM shortage fuelled by the AI boom, could a price rise be on the cards? Maybe. Earlier this month, Korean site Fnews claimed the Samsung Galaxy S26 lineup could increase in price in its home country due to the global cost increase in memory. It indicated that the US might not be hit with the same price hike, though there was no word on the UK or Europe.

To support this, on 17 January, a reliable Samsung leaker claimed on X that the starting prices for the Samsung Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra will remain the same in the US. I’m hoping that’s the same for the UK market. If correct, the Samsung Galaxy S26 could start at £799, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus could start at £999, and £1,249 for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

Rumours about the Samsung Galaxy S26 design have been circulating since the autumn. While leaks suggest the S26 and S26 Plus will look fairly similar to their predecessor, the biggest design tweaks could come to the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra.

In December, Samsung accidentally leaked renders of the S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra in the One UI 8.5 source code. Discovered by Android Authority, the renders show what each phone looks like from the rear.

The renders from Samsung line up with other CAD renders released in subsequent weeks. The Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus seem to ditch the floating-style camera array on the rear in favour of a camera island that looks similar to the camera bar on the iPhone 17, with three cameras housed in a vertical pill shape, with a sensor to the left.

The display is also headed for a slight increase, while the overall proportions will remain the same. According to Ice Universe, the Samsung Galaxy S26 will boast a 6.3in Super AMOLED display, up on the S25’s 6.2in. The S26 Plus is reportedly getting the same 6.7in display found on the S25 Plus.

Overall, both phones look broadly the same – they both feature the same flat design and the same rounded corners as their predecessor. The main difference is the camera bump.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, however, has a slightly upgraded design. According to the latest rumours, the S26 Ultra could boast a slightly slimmer frame, potentially around 0.4 mm thinner than the S25 Ultra.

And following early rumours that the stylus might be dropped, leaked CAD renders from Ice Universe suggest Samsung has instead found a way to keep the internals the same while providing Qi2 wireless charging compatibility without interference from the S Pen’s digitiser. The S Pen itself could have a new design, according to Ice.

Like the S26 and S26 Plus, the S26 Ultra is expected to boast a vertical bar that houses all the sensors, and will be kitted out with metal rings around each camera.

In terms of the display, it’s expected to remain 6.9in in size, but be upgraded to an M14 OLED material, which should slightly improve efficiency. A report from The Elec in early 2025 suggested peak brightness could climb to around 3,000 nits.

The most interesting rumour is that the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will receive a “privacy display” feature. In January, SammyGuru reported the feature had been found buried within internal builds of One UI 8.5. According to the report, Samsung’s own Tips app revealed an animated explainer for Privacy Display, showing how the feature will work in practice. The animation discovered suggests the screen will remain fully visible when viewed head-on, but dim automatically when viewed from the sides, top or bottom, making it harder for people nearby to read sensitive content. SammyGuru also claims the feature will live within the Display section of Settings, with a Quick Settings toggle and optional app-based automation.

Similar to Apple, Samsung might do away with titanium and return to aluminium for the S26 lineup, according to an October report from tech site Fudzilla. As with the iPhone, it could help improve thermal performance and make it lighter in the process.

According to rumours, the S26 and S26 Ultra will continue to use different chipsets. Chinese news site ITHome reported in December that the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus will use Samsung’s recently-announced Exynos 2600 chipset, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

But don’t worry if you fear a disparity in performance. According to reliable leaker Jukanlosreve, the new Exynos 2600 has six times the NPU performance of Apple’s A19 Pro chip, which is in the iPhone 17 Pro Max. It’ll also reportedly have 29 per cent better GPU performance than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

Read more: A tech critic’s review of the iPhone 17

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Samsung is planning major camera upgrades for most of the Galaxy S26 range. So far, leaks have focused almost entirely on changes coming to the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

In November, reliable leaker Ice Universe stated that the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra will all use the same 3x telephoto camera, retaining a 10MP ISOCELL sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. With no credible leaks pointing to new sensors for the main or ultrawide cameras on the S26 and S26 Plus, both models are expected to rely on software and processing improvements rather than significant hardware changes.

While Ice Universe has said Samsung will keep the same 10MP 3x telephoto camera across the entire Galaxy S26 lineup, there may still be optical upgrades on the Ultra model. On 15 January, tipster Ahmed Qwaider claimed on X that Samsung will upgrade the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 200MP main camera with a wider f/1.4 aperture, up from f/1.7 on the S25 Ultra.

In the same post, Qwaider also suggested the 5x 50MP telephoto lens could move from f/3.4 to f/2.9, potentially improving light capture for long-distance photography.

Lastly, battery life. You’ll be pleased to hear that the Galaxy S26 and S26 Ultra are predicted to have bigger batteries.

According to tipster Qwaider, the base Galaxy S26 will get an upgraded 4,300mAh battery (over the S25’s 4,000mAh), while the S26 Ultra will get an upgraded 5,200mAh battery (slightly more than the S25 Ultra’s 5,000mAh). For those rocking the Plus model, it’s expected to keep the same 4,900mAh battery as the previous model.

The biggest change coming to the S26 Ultra is in how your phone charges, however. According to Qwaider, the S26 Ultra will feature 60W wired charging, up from 45W on the S25 Ultra, so you’ll be able to charge from zero to full much faster.

Finally, all three models are predicted to come with Qi2 wireless charging, potentially with built-in magnets for better alignment and faster charging speeds up to 25W for the S26 Ultra, according to details found in the One UI 8.5 source code discovered by Android Authority.

For more, have a read of our round-up of the best Samsung phones