5 Phones Coming in March 2026 Worth Watching

ARTICLE – Most people treat phone launches like seasonal weather: roughly the same shape every year, easy to ignore until something actually lands in your pocket. March 2026 doesn’t follow that pattern. Five phones are arriving soon and at least three represent genuine firsts for their respective brands. That kind of concentration from companies that usually stagger releases tells you something about how competitive the first half of this year has become.

So the real question is: which of these five actually moves the needle, and which ones are dressing up familiar ideas with a new launch date? Honor is teasing its next-gen foldable at MWC. Motorola is building its first book-style foldable with stylus support. Apple is pulling features down to its most affordable iPhone. Nothing is promising “something bold” with its Phone 4a lineup. And Samsung is leading with a privacy display nobody knew they wanted. If you’re planning an upgrade this spring, the timing couldn’t be more complicated.

Here are the five phones coming in March 2026, listed by expected launch date.

1. Honor Magic V6

Honor is bringing its next foldable to MWC Barcelona with the Magic V6, the successor to the Magic V5. Details remain thin ahead of the reveal, and Honor hasn’t confirmed full specifications, pricing, or regional availability yet. What the company has signaled through teasers is a continued push on durability and foldable refinement, building on the direction established with the V5.

The MWC reveal on March should fill in the gaps on specs, cameras, and pricing. Until then, the Magic V6 is the phone on this list with the most to prove and the least confirmed on paper. Full details are expected during the pre-show presentation.

2. Motorola Razr Fold

Motorola’s first book-style foldable gets its full reveal at MWC after debuting at CES 2026 earlier this year. The razr fold opens to an 8.1-inch 2K internal display, with a 6.6-inch external screen that functions as a complete smartphone on its own. You can run any app, take calls, and handle routine tasks without ever opening the device, which changes the daily rhythm of using a foldable.

The real differentiator is moto pen ultra stylus support with 4,096 pressure levels and sub-5ms latency, positioning the razr fold as a productivity tool rather than a novelty. Motorola’s Qira AI adds features designed for the dual-display workflow: Catch Me Up summarizes what you missed while the phone was closed, and Next Move suggests contextual actions based on what’s on screen. The separately sold moto pen ultra also enables Sketch to Image, turning rough drawings into finished visuals directly in the Notes app.

Motorola hasn’t disclosed final pricing, exact availability dates, or complete camera specifications yet. Sales are expected later this year. If you’ve been waiting for a book-style foldable alternative with a genuine productivity angle, the razr fold is the first serious contender to build its identity around the stylus.

3. Apple iPhone 17e

Apple confirmed an event on March 4, where media will get hands-on time with the new hardware. The iPhone 17e is expected to headline the rollout alongside other products, continuing Apple’s strategy of pulling flagship features down to its most affordable iPhone, a pattern that started with the SE line and has gotten more aggressive with each generation.

Specific hardware details haven’t been confirmed yet, but early reports point to meaningful upgrades over the previous generation while keeping pricing unchanged. That last part matters: if Apple holds the line on price while closing the spec gap with its flagship models, the 17e becomes a much harder phone to argue against for anyone who doesn’t need the latest Pro features.

Full specs and pricing should land once the March 4 event wraps. Apple’s budget tier has historically been one of the safest picks in the phone market, and the 17e looks positioned to strengthen that reputation if the upgrades deliver.

4. Nothing Phone (4a)

Nothing teased “something bold” for the Phone 4a lineup on February 18, and a March 5 reveal is now confirmed. The Phone 3a turned heads last year for punching above its weight class, and Nothing clearly intends to push that formula further with whatever the 4a brings to the table.

Nothing’s Glyph interface remains the most visually distinct phone design element on the market, recognizable from across a room. How the 4a evolves that system, along with its camera capabilities and display specs, should become clear at launch. Pricing and full specifications haven’t been confirmed yet, but here’s what we’ve heard so far: a 50MP main sensor paired with a 50MP telephoto (2x optical zoom) and an 8MP ultrawide, a 6.78-inch 120Hz AMOLED on Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, and a 5,080mAh battery with 50W wired charging. If those numbers hold, the 4a could be one of the few phones under €400 ($473) with a dedicated telephoto. Nothing has consistently targeted the mid-range segment where value matters as much as personality, and the 4a looks like the sharpest expression of that strategy yet.

5. Samsung Galaxy S26 series

Samsung’s headline feature caught most people off guard. The S26 Ultra introduces Privacy Display, a screen technology that narrows the viewing angle on command, making the display unreadable to anyone not looking straight on. If you’ve ever tilted your phone away from a stranger on a flight, you understand the problem this solves. Whether it works as smoothly in practice as it does in controlled demos is the open question worth tracking.

Under the hood, the entire S26 lineup runs the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, with Samsung confirming the chip across all three models. All three feature a 10-bit display capable of rendering over a billion colors and ProScaler technology for AI-enhanced image upscaling. The Ultra sits at just 7.9mm thick with armor aluminum construction and Gorilla Armor 2 up front. Pre-orders opened February 25, with the S26 Ultra starting at $1,299.99, the S26+ at $1,099.99, and the base S26 at $899.99.

The standard S26 and S26+ share the same unified design language at lower price points. Galaxy AI gets a significant expansion this generation, with agentic features, a native keyboard tool that suggests actions based on conversation context. If you’re already in the Galaxy ecosystem, the S26 is the path of least resistance. The bigger question is whether Privacy Display adds enough to warrant a full upgrade cycle, or if Samsung is holding ground while everyone else swings for the fences.

Who should skip this

If you bought a flagship in the last 12 months, nothing here is a must-have upgrade. The improvements are real but incremental for anyone carrying a 2025 device with a current-gen chip and decent cameras. If you’re locked into a carrier contract with more than a year remaining, browsing this list will only make the wait feel longer.

Regional availability is the other filter worth checking. The Honor Magic V6 and Nothing Phone (4a) may have limited carrier support in certain North American markets at launch. Verify compatibility before committing based on price alone, because a great phone that doesn’t work on your network isn’t a great phone.

Who this is for

March 2026 is the month to pay attention if you’re carrying anything older than two generations. The spread covers budget to premium price points, and each manufacturer is attempting something it hasn’t done before. That kind of competitive urgency benefits buyers more than any individual spec bump ever could.

One thing worth keeping in mind: outside of Samsung’s S26, nothing on this list is fully confirmed yet. Most of the specs and pricing you’ve seen circulating come from leaks, early teasers, or analyst reports. Final details for Honor, Motorola, Apple, and Nothing should land at their respective launch events over the next two weeks. We’ll update this page as each one goes official.

The quick read: the iPhone 17e is the safest pick for people who want Apple without the Apple tax. The Nothing Phone (4a) could be the value play to watch once specs are confirmed. Honor’s Magic V6 is the foldable wild card at MWC. And if screen privacy matters more than raw performance, Samsung’s Privacy Display is worth seeing in person before you decide.