Next week will be busy with news from the MWC and upcoming Apple announcements. This week the big event was the launch of the Galaxy S26 series. In case you missed it, this post serves as a jumping off point to the most important details. We also have a hands-on review with all three S26 models as well as a hands-on video.
Long story short, the S26 trio is already on pre-order and will officially go on sale on March 11. The first shipments should start arriving around that time too. It’s important to highlight that Samsung revised the prices of the S-series models – here’s the detailed breakdown.
During the pre-order period, the usual storage upgrade is in effect – you get a 512GB model for the price of the 256GB one. If you buy the phone from Amazon, the retailer will also throw in a gift card.
In the case of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, it’s a $200 card. The Ultra brings the new Privacy Display feature, upgrades the main and 5x telephoto cameras with wider apertures and increases the charging speeds to 60W wired and 25W wireless (up from 45W and 15W on the S25 Ultra).
The Samsung Galaxy S26+ is paired with a $100 gift card. The phone’s upgrades are a lot more modest than those of the Ultra. The wireless charging speed was bumped up to 20W (up from 15W), but the wired speed remains at 45W. And, of course, there’s a new chipset – the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. All North American S26 units use the Snapdragon instead of the Exynos 2600.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 also gets a $100 gift card. The new model has a bigger display – at 6.3” it now matches the iPhone 17 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro – as well as a bigger 4,300mAh battery (+300mAh compared to the S25). However, the charging speed hasn’t changed since the S20 – it’s still 25W wired and 15W wireless. The S26 drops the 128GB storage option and now has 256GB as base. This is extra relevant since the pre-order storage upgrade gets you a 512GB phone instead of 256GB like last year.
We mentioned charging speeds several times – we should also mention that Samsung doesn’t believe it’s worth it to put magnets in the phones. Most people use a case, right? So, put the magnets in the case.
And it did, in several cases in fact. There are silicone, slim, rugged and clear cases with built-in magnets. There is a clear case without magnets too if you don’t care about those things. But if you do, note that there are magnetic cases from other makers too.
It’s no surprise, but Samsung didn’t do a sequel to the Galaxy S25 Edge. Still, the phone might be worth considering – the Galaxy S26+ barely upgrades anything other than the chipset. Take the cameras for example – the modules are a 50MP main, a 10MP 3x tele and a 12MP ultra-wide, not that different from the S22+ cameras. The Edge, meanwhile, gets you a 200MP main, something that you normally have to spend Ultra money for. Battery life isn’t great, though.
You may be tempted to look at the other Galaxy S25 models, but right now only the Edge has an interesting discount. The Pixel 10 series is essentially at full price too, but that could change after the S26 launch buzz wears off (we’ll certainly be keeping an eye on the situation).
Samsung also updated its TWS buds with a new flat design for the stems and case that should make it easier to store and retrieve the buds. The Galaxy Buds4 Pro feature a wider woofer and improved tweeter, plus they have superior ANC. The vanilla Galaxy Buds4 adopt the new design and all the AI-based features, but they have a single driver and an open design. Also note that the Pro buds are rated IP57, while the vanilla ones are IP54.
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