Samsung is reportedly preparing to unveil its highly anticipated Galaxy S26 series on February 25, 2026, marking an unusual delay of nearly a month compared to the traditional January launch window. The South Korean tech giant typically introduces its flagship S-series early each year, though this time, last-minute lineup revisions appear to have pushed the event schedule.

Launch Venue and Lineup Changes

According to Korean outlet Money Today, Samsung will host the launch in San Francisco, its first S-series event in the city since the Galaxy S23 unveiling in 2023. Initially, reports suggested Samsung would drop the Plus variant in favor of a new Galaxy S26 Edge and rebrand the base model as the S26 Pro. However, following the underwhelming sales of the ultra-thin Galaxy S25 Edge, Samsung has reportedly canceled the Edge model and revived the Plus edition.

The final lineup is now expected to include:

Galaxy S26

Galaxy S26 Plus

Galaxy S26 Ultra

The “Pro” branding for the base model has also been dropped.

Expected Features and Upgrades

The Galaxy S26 Ultra is rumored to introduce a new 10-bit display, capable of rendering over 1 billion colors, a notable step up from the 8-bit panels on previous models. While not yet matching the 12-bit displays of some competitors, the enhancement promises more vibrant visuals and color depth.

Camera hardware is expected to remain mostly unchanged, with most improvements focused on software processing and the new image signal processor (ISP) embedded in the chipset. Powering the Ultra will be the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, paired with 12GB of RAM.

Battery capacity is likely to remain at 5,000mAh, but charging speeds are set to increase to 60W, enabling a 0–80% charge in roughly 30 minutes.

Samsung has also teased AI-driven photography enhancements and new on-device AI features across the lineup. Design-wise, the S26 Ultra is expected to adopt a more rounded frame and introduce fresh color options, including a rumored Cosmic Orange shade reminiscent of Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro.

Exynos 2600 vs. Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

As with past generations, Samsung will reportedly split chipsets by region—some markets will receive devices powered by the Exynos 2600, while others will get the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.

The Exynos 2600, built on Samsung’s 2nm process, boasts up to six times faster NPU performance than Apple’s A19 Pro, significantly improving on-device AI tasks. Benchmark leaks from tipster Jukan suggest scores of 3,455 (single-core) and 11,621 (multi-core) on Geekbench, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 scored 3,832 (single-core) and 12,170 (multi-core) according to SamMobile.

Despite slightly trailing Qualcomm’s chip in raw benchmarks, the Exynos 2600’s AI and efficiency optimizations could give it an edge in real-world performance.