Samsung Unpacked lands on February 25, and the buildup this year has been different. Samsung turned global landmarks into Galaxy AI previews for its teaser campaign, and the leak cycle has been so thorough that we already know more about the S26 Ultra than Samsung probably wanted us to at this point.
1. The Galaxy S26 Ultra design shift that renders already confirm
I’ve spent weeks tracking every render, spec rumor, and analyst breakdown floating around. Here’s what the evidence points to, and why these seven things have me watching the calendar.
The official Samsung press renders are already out. Evan Blass leaked the marketing images showing the S26 Ultra and S26 Plus in every launch color, and the design changes from the S25 Ultra go beyond a typical refresh.
Start with the front. 9to5Google published a full 360-degree render that shows noticeably thinner bezels on all four sides. The display looks like it swallowed the frame. That’s the kind of change you feel immediately when you pick up the phone.
Add The Gadgeteer on Google
Add The Gadgeteer as a preferred source to see more of our coverage on Google.
ADD US ON GOOGLE
The frame itself tells a different story than last year. CNET’s rumor roundup describes a flatter profile compared to the S25 Ultra’s slightly curved edges. Android Headlines’ design analysis notes refined corner radii that soften the industrial look Samsung introduced with the S24 Ultra. It’s a deliberate move toward something more refined and less aggressive.
GSMArena’s set of leaked press images confirms at least four color options at launch. The palette choices lean sophisticated, matching the cleaner hardware aesthetic.
Tom’s Guide’s full S26 Ultra breakdown pulls all the design rumors together, and the picture is consistent across every source. Samsung isn’t treating the Ultra as a spec bump. This is a deliberate pivot in the design language, and Tuesday will confirm whether the renders do the real thing justice.
2. The camera tradeoffs that leaked spec sheets reveal
The camera story this year comes down to a calculated tradeoff. Forbes reports that Samsung is giving the 5x telephoto a significantly wider aperture while potentially stepping back on the 3x lens. That’s a bold choice, and it prioritizes the zoom range most people reach for when shooting portraits and distant subjects.
Why the wider aperture matters: Tom’s Guide breaks it down. More light hitting the sensor per shot means less noise in dim environments, more natural background blur, and faster autofocus when the light drops. If you’ve tried taking a portrait at a restaurant or a concert with your phone’s zoom lens, you know exactly what problem this solves.
On the software side, the changes are equally specific. SamMobile reports two important image quality improvements coming to the S26 series. These aren’t vague “better processing” claims.
PhoneArena detailed Samsung’s new image processing algorithm, which focuses on preserving texture detail in midtones rather than over-sharpening. That’s been a consistent pain point with Samsung cameras for years. Skin tones, fabric textures, foliage. The over-processing smoothed out the details that made photos feel real, and this algorithm is aimed directly at fixing that.
The hardware and software changes together represent the most targeted camera strategy Samsung has run in a while. Instead of chasing megapixel counts or adding a fifth lens, they’re addressing the specific complaints photographers have had about Galaxy cameras. Smart prioritization over flashy specs.
Samsung’s First Look trailer teased “effortless photo creation” and the landmark campaign leaned into Galaxy AI’s role in the camera experience, suggesting the line between hardware upgrades and AI-powered processing is about to blur even further.
3. Galaxy AI as the entire theme of the event
Samsung’s teaser campaign made one thing clear: Galaxy AI isn’t a feature bullet point this year. It’s the thesis of the entire event. The Newsroom video positioned AI as the framework through which every product announcement will be filtered, from phones to earbuds to software.
Last year brought Circle to Search, Live Translate, and generative gallery editing. The features that stuck were the ones that disappeared into daily use without requiring you to think about them. The ones that didn’t were the features you had to remember existed and manually trigger. That distinction matters, because it tells you where Samsung needs to push next.
Samsung confirmed a concrete step in that direction this week. Galaxy AI is expanding into a multi-agent ecosystem, with Perplexity joining as an integrated AI agent on upcoming flagship Galaxy devices. Users can access Perplexity through a dedicated “Hey Plex” voice command or by pressing and holding the side button, and it’ll be embedded across Samsung Notes, Clock, Gallery, Reminder, Calendar, and select third-party apps. The approach treats AI agents as interchangeable tools rather than locked-in platforms, which is a different philosophy than what Apple or Google have taken with their own assistants.
Both Engadget’s preview and PhoneArena’s what-to-expect guide flag that Samsung is expected to emphasize ambient intelligence at Unpacked. AI that activates based on context rather than manual commands, working in the background rather than demanding your attention. Samsung’s teaser language around “effortless” and “contextual” creation points in that direction, and if they deliver on it, this could be the Unpacked where Galaxy AI stops feeling like a collection of tools and starts feeling like infrastructure.
4. One UI 7’s final build after months of beta testing
Samsung rolled out the One UI 7 beta in select markets late last year, and the beta cycle has run long enough for real opinions to form. The visual refresh is more than skin deep. New iconography, redesigned notification panels, and animation curves that run smoother than anything Samsung has shipped before.
SamMobile’s feature breakdown identified the bigger structural changes. A rebuilt lock screen customization system. Revamped quick settings. Galaxy AI woven directly into native system apps instead of being isolated in a separate AI menu. The approach feels less like “here’s an AI button you can tap” and more like “the AI is already running behind what you’re doing.”
Samsung’s One UI 7 features page lays out the direction, though the final build at Unpacked will include refinements beyond the beta. Beta testers have reported smoother multitasking, faster app switching, and better memory management across the board.
The open question is the one that follows every One UI release: did Samsung manage to add depth without adding clutter? One UI has always been the most customizable Android skin available, and that power comes with a density that can overwhelm new users. Each version either finds the balance or overcompensates. Always-on display options, home screen layouts, and quick toggle configurations have all been expanded in the beta, which suggests Samsung is adding granularity rather than subtracting it.
If the performance gains from the beta carry into the stable build alongside the visual refresh and the deeper AI integration, One UI 7 could quietly be the most important part of the S26 story for people who use their phones all day. The chipset grabs benchmarks. The cameras grab social posts. But the software is what you live with.
5. Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro (confirmed, not rumored)
This isn’t the rumor stage anymore. Android Authority confirmed that new Galaxy Buds will launch at Unpacked alongside the S26 series. The lineup splits into two products: Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.
9to5Google leaked the pricing, and the positioning is aggressive. The Buds 4 target the standard AirPods price tier while the Buds 4 Pro go directly after AirPods Pro 3. Samsung is mounting a challenge at every rung of Apple’s earbuds lineup if those numbers hold.
GSMArena published leaked images of both models. The stems look more refined, the cases are slimmer, and the overall silhouette shows a design team that studied what worked and what didn’t about the Buds 3 generation. The industrial design is cleaner and more considered than anything in Samsung’s earbuds history.
Galaxy AI integration for real-time translation through the earbuds is expected to be a launch-day feature. If it works as smoothly as the teasers imply, paired with improved ANC and transparency mode, these could be the first Galaxy Buds that give AirPods Pro owners a real reason to look across the aisle. The pricing, the design, and the AI features all have to land together for that to happen, but the pieces are lined up.
6. Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with no Exynos lottery
Forbes confirmed the Galaxy S26 Ultra ships globally with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. No Exynos split for the Ultra, which eliminates the regional performance lottery that’s been a frustration for Samsung buyers across multiple generations. One chip, one experience, worldwide.
The benchmarks are already surfacing. GSMArena compared Snapdragon and Exynos variants of the standard S26, and the single-core gap is wide enough to justify Samsung’s decision. Notebookcheck reports that Samsung is running an overclocked variant of the chip in the Ultra model, pushing clocks beyond what other Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 devices have shipped with so far.
Peak performance numbers will look impressive on paper, but the test that actually matters is thermal management. Samsung has historically struggled to sustain high clock speeds under extended load without aggressive throttling. An overclocked chipset raises those stakes. If the S26 Ultra can hold boosted speeds through gaming sessions and heavy AI workloads without becoming a hand warmer, that’s a real differentiator over every other Android flagship launching this year.
7. Whatever Samsung saves for the surprise slot
Samsung consistently holds something back for the last few minutes of Unpacked. The main lineup gets announced, the demos wrap up, and then something appears that wasn’t in the leak cycle. Last year it was a foldable teaser. The year before, a surprise wearable.
PhoneArena’s event guide mentions possible Galaxy Ring 2 details, and Engadget flags a rumor about an entirely new health-focused wearable category. The leak cycle has been remarkably thorough this year, which either means Samsung has nothing left to hide or it’s sitting on something nobody’s found yet.
The bottom line
The leak cycle for Unpacked 2026 has been one of the most detailed in years, and what’s surfaced tells a consistent story. Samsung isn’t chasing one flashy headline. The camera tradeoffs show calculated decision-making. The global Snapdragon commitment addresses a years-old complaint. The confirmed earbuds lineup signals Samsung is ready to compete with Apple’s audio products tier for tier.
Everything points to a company trying to get the full package right rather than relying on a single spec to carry the event. That’s a different posture than previous years, where one feature (200MP camera, foldable form factor, Galaxy AI launch) dominated the messaging.
You can watch the event live on February 25, and I’ll be covering it in real time here on The Gadgeteer with hands-on impressions and breakdowns as each announcement lands.
If even half of what’s leaked holds up on stage, this could be the most complete Galaxy launch Samsung has pulled off in years. The evidence is sitting right there in the renders, the specs, and the teasers. Tuesday can’t come soon enough.
Love our content?
Sign up for our newsletter today.
No ads, no spam, just links to our latest articles!
KAMRUI Pinova P1 Mini PC Computer, AMD Ryzen 4300U Processor, 16GB DDR4 RAM 256GB M.2 SSD, Mini Desktop Computer Support Triple 4K, USB-C, WiFi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, HTPC for Business, Education, Home
(as of February 21, 2026 17:22 GMT -06:00 – More infoProduct prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.)