There have been rumors about the Samsung Galaxy S26 line of phones for months now. Initially, it looked like Samsung might replace its base phone with the Pro. While the Ultra won’t be disappearing, we’ve heard the Plus may be discontinued in favor of the S26 Edge. And then we heard reports that the S26 Pro would not replace the S26 after all and that the S26 Edge would be replaced by the S26 Plus. This quickly became confusing to say the least.
Now that the Galaxy S26 launch is imminent, it appears the number of new leaks is stabilizing, with some speculation finally put to rest.
Here’s a quick look at the latest Galaxy S26 talk to make sense of it all.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus.
James Martin/CNETGalaxy S26 series release date
Samsung typically holds several Unpacked events each year, with the first usually taking place in January or February. Most of this year S25 handsets were announced during a Galaxy Unpacked Event on January 22, 2025 and released on February 7.
This year, however, the schedule is slightly delayed. Samsung has announced that there will be a Galaxy Unpacked event on February 25 at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) in San Francisco.
It’s also possible that additional versions of the S26 may arise throughout the year. In 2025, for example, Samsung launched two more S25 handsets: the Edge S25 and the S25 FE — during two events in May and September.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Andrew Lanxon/CNETGalaxy S26 Ultra
With all the uncertainty surrounding the Galaxy S26 (or Pro) and Galaxy S26 Edge (or Plus), the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the only model that doesn’t seem to be in full swing. The S26 Ultra appears to have a slightly different design than its predecessor, according to renders discovered by Android Headlines,
The images appear to show that the Galaxy S26 Ultra has more curved corners than its predecessor and a slightly different camera layout on the back. All four cameras are positioned in the same locations, but three of them are housed in a raised vertical bump. The phone’s 6.9-inch display could use new M14 OLED panels, which are said to be brighter and more energy efficient. There is also speculation that the Ultra could be slightly thinner, coming in at 7.9mm thick, which is 0.3mm thinner than the current S25 Ultra.
New rumors suggest that the S26 Ultra will have similar, but slightly improved, camera specs to the S25 Ultra. ETNews claims that the new Ultra will have a 200-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto lens, and a 50-megapixel 5x telephoto lens. The 12-megapixel front camera also seems unchanged.
Like the Galaxy S26, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is said to come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US and China, and with the Exynos 2600 chip in other markets. Other rumored specs include 16GB of RAM, up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, a 5,000mAh battery, and faster 60-watt wired charging.
The Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra will have satellite communications capabilities, as reported by SamMobile. The outlet discovered FCC documentation showing that all three handsets will have the ability to send and receive messages via satellite even without cellular networks. Currently, the Galaxy S25 series can send and receive messages via satellite for Verizon subscribers.
We also recently learned from SamMobile that the new Galaxy S26 series will support fast wireless charging at up to 25W. Samsung is offering a new 25W Qi2 charger to do just that. SamMobile even showed exclusive photos of it, but said that the charger’s full 25W power is likely only supported by the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The S26 Base and S26 Plus, on the other hand, can only support up to 20W charging with this charger.
As for colors, Ice Universe recently announced that the S26 Ultra will be available in “black shadow, white shadow, galactic blue, and ultraviolet (or purple).” Leaker Evan Blass said the colors would be “black, white, silver umber, sky blue, cobalt purple, and rose gold.” There were also earlier renders that showed the S26 Ultra in an orange shade similar to Apple’s iPhone 17 Probut this color doesn’t seem to be in the range at the moment. Other rumors point to an aluminum frame rather than the titanium one of its predecessors.
This is the Galaxy S25’s camera array.
James Martin/CNETGalaxy S26
For months, one of the biggest rumors surrounding the Galaxy S26 was that it might not exist at all. Internal build code discovered by Android Authority suggests that Samsung could abandon the base model altogether and replace it with the S26 Pro. This may seem odd at first, but it could have signaled Samsung’s plan to position the S26 line as a more premium offering than its predecessors.
Now, however, it appears that the rumors about the S26 Pro weren’t true. New reports indicate that Samsung is sticking to convention and will call its next flagship the Galaxy S26 after all.
Leaked renders of the S26 show a very similar design to the S25, with one key difference: the rear camera. The S26 appears to have a vertical bump on the back housing three camera lenses, while the S25 has no bump at all, with its lenses sitting flat in the body.
There have been mixed rumors about the S26’s camera specs. According to Android Headlines, the S26 will have a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera, which is a significant upgrade over the S25’s 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. Others, however, speculated that the S26’s camera specs would remain unchanged from the S25.
Other speculation about the S26 includes a slightly larger 6.3-inch 2x Dynamic AMOLED display and 120Hz refresh rate, as well as a slightly larger and slimmer overall build. And Android Headlines reports that the S26 could have a 4,300 mAh battery, up to 12 GB of RAM and up to 512 GB of storage.
Watch this: Do not buy the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Save money with a used S24 Ultra
As for the processor, Daniel Araujo, vice president of Samsung’s Mobile Experiences division, said in a conference call that the S26 lineup “will revolutionize the user experience with next-generation user-centric AI, second-generation personalized hotspot, and higher performance, including new camera sensors.” This focus on AI could be why Samsung might hold its Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco, widely considered the center of the AI movement. Samsung’s partnership with Nota AI could be highlighted, perhaps with faster and improved text-to-image generative AI.
Rumors suggest the S26 will use the latest version from Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Chipset in the United States and China. According to Qualcomm, the new Snapdragon chip is around 20% faster and 35% more power efficient than its predecessor.
As for potential software updates, Samsung’s One UI 8.5 (which is expected to debut on the S26) could have a “Privacy View” feature. Viewing angles will be reduced when using sensitive applications such as banking, so passers-by cannot view your private information. This leak was confirmed by Samsung itself via a recent press release.
The thin Galaxy S25 Edge.
Jesse Orrall/CNETGalaxy S26 Edge and More
The Galaxy S25 Edge debuted with great fanfare this year, thanks to its ultra-slim form factor, so it’s not far-fetched to imagine that Samsung will offer a successor next year. However, there were conflicting rumors about whether or not this would happen.
For months, leaks suggested that Samsung would replace the Galaxy S26 Plus with the Galaxy S26 Edge. The S26 Edge was expected to have an ultra-thin profile of around 5.5mm, making it 0.3mm thinner than the S25 Edge. It’s also 0.1mm thinner than the iPhone Air. There was further speculation that it would have the same 6.7-inch display, a larger 4,200mAh battery, and the new Snapdragon processor.
But today, this rumor seems to be on shaky ground. According to SamMobile and 9to5Google, the company may remove the Galaxy S26 Edge from its 2026 lineup due to low sales of the Galaxy S25 Edge, especially compared to the rest of the Galaxy S25 series. Instead, Samsung could replace the S26 Edge with the Galaxy S26 Plus.
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According to a leak received by Android Headlines, the Galaxy S26 Plus has a 6.7-inch QHD+ (120 Hz) flat screen surrounded by thin bezels. On the back, three cameras are placed inside a raised vertical bump, the same way the S26 is supposed to have them.
Other rumors regarding the S26 Plus include the inclusion of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor in some regions and Samsung’s Exynos 2600 processor in others.
