Samsung’s Unpacked event, where the company unveiled the Galaxy S26 series, was entirely a software-focused show, with AI taking the lead. The launch of the Galaxy S26 series marked a departure from Samsung’s previous events, where the focus was squarely on hardware and updated specifications. This time, however, Samsung put artificial intelligence front and centre. In fact, Samsung executives described the S26 as the first smartphone built for the “Agentic AI” era.

I sat through the entire presentation at Unpacked in San Francisco and narrowed it down to the best moments. There’s a lot coming to the new Galaxy S26 line of smartphones, and here’s what’s most important for everyday users to know.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn’t look any different from previous-generation Ultra phones. It still has a 6.9-inch screen, four rear cameras, and the familiar layout. Look closer, though, and Samsung has made some significant changes to the device. The S26 Ultra is slightly lighter and thinner than the S25 Ultra, features the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor, has an aluminium frame instead of titanium, and offers new display technology, including Privacy Display. Long story short, it’s a software-focused approach to hardware that really wowed me, especially how AI now dominates much of the experience. The S26 Ultra doesn’t come cheap, though. Preorders begin today and the phone goes on sale at a starting price of Rs 1,39,999, Rs 10,000 higher than the S25 Ultra’s launch price. 

The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s display feels like magic. No, it isn’t getting a glasses-free 3D display, but it does include a Privacy Display feature that lets users hide sensitive information on their screens. It’s like a sheet of privacy film that can be turned on or off and applied to specific apps and content. This is a hardware-focused feature. There are two types of pixels on the OLED panel: one that directs light straight toward your eyes and another next to it that spreads light more widely, allowing it to reach the sides. That’s what enables you to view the screen from different angles. When Privacy Display is enabled, the latter pixels are turned off, severely limiting what people around you can see. It doesn’t just block the left and right sides of the smartphone like most two-way privacy screen protectors—it also limits visibility from the top and bottom. What makes Privacy Display truly special is that it can be customised through software. The benefits are immediately clear. If you are travelling on public transport, for example, no one will be able to read your private conversations in a messaging app.

Samsung is bringing together three separate AI engines: Google’s Gemini for agentic tasks such as booking rides and taking actions across apps, Perplexity for web-based queries, and an upgraded version of Samsung’s own Bixby as the on-device assistant, powered by a more capable in-house large language model. It’s a very different approach from Apple and how Cupertino views AI implementation at the OS level. Samsung is pursuing a multi-agent strategy, reflecting how the company is betting across multiple providers rather than relying on any single one. For example, Samsung’s new web browser is powered by Perplexity. Using an Ask AI tool, the browser can research queries across all open tabs and even your search history to surface the answers you are looking for.

Samsung’s pitch is agentic AI, and Google’s Gemini is the engine that makes it possible. The bigger deal is that the AI assistant can work directly with native Samsung apps such as Calendar, Reminders, and Samsung Notes. A user can ask Gemini to “find and add an important event directly to their calendar.” Users can also use Gemini to pull information from a YouTube video, such as summarising its content and adding it to Samsung Notes, for example. 

Perhaps the best example of how agentic AI works is Gemini running a task in a third-party app on Android. You can ask Gemini to book you an Uber to the airport, and it will launch the app and run it in the background—opening the app, selecting options, and scrolling through screens. Gemini will alert you when the task is ready, at which point you can complete the booking after verifying prices. Google says these automations will start with select apps in the US and South Korea, including Uber, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub.

Embedded into Samsung’s keyboard, users will start seeing proactive information appear based on the context of what they are doing. For example, when a friend mentions photos you shared in a chat, Now Nudge could surface those photos so you have them ready to share, instead of digging through your photo library to find them. It can also bring up calendar events related to a conversation. For example, when a friend asks if you are available on a specific date to go out for dinner, Now Nudge can highlight that day without you leaving the chat app. It works similarly to Google’s Magic Cue feature on Pixel phones.

The new Galaxy Buds 4 earbuds have received a fresh look, along with many new internal and external improvements. The Buds Pro 4 feature a wider woofer, effectively increasing the speaker area by roughly 20 per cent, which should result in better overall audio quality. Active noise cancellation has also improved, providing real-time adjustments based on your environment to let certain sounds through while blocking others. You can use head gestures—nod to accept a call, shake to decline, similar to Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2.

The base model of the Galaxy S26 has a tweaked design, but the S26 Plus looks the same as its predecessor. The updated design now includes a larger 4,300mAh battery, while the S26 Plus retains the same 4,900 mAh battery as its predecessor. Both phones in India will be powered by the Exynos 2600. In fact, the devices are seeing a price hike, with the S26 starting at Rs 87,999 and the S26 Plus at Rs 1,19,999.