One week before the Galaxy Unpacked Launch Event, I was one of the few media people invited to preview the Samsung Galaxy S26 Range in Auckland (I do use the word “media” loosely when referring to myself, sitting there with longtime tech writers and YouTubers, feeling out of place a la the Big Bird in a business meeting meme). In the closed boardroom, we were shown the new trio of the S26 Range (S26, S26 Plus and the S26 Ultra), as well as the new duo of Galaxy Buds 4 (Galaxy Buds 4 and 4 Pro).
Unsurprisingly, the major takeaway of this year’s launch is undoubtedly “AI”, as consumers will be spoilt for choice, so to say, of the various AI models available to them. The S26 Range will not only continue the Gemini AI integration, but Samsung has resurrected Bixby, and brought in a new friend in Perplexity. The idea for the Gemini AI and Bixby duo is that they will work interchangeably with one another, with Bixby/Galaxy AI working on the phone side of things, and Gemini AI on the cloud side. Think of the Galaxy AI as the personal assistant on your phone only, and will keep things secure there, and it will communicate with Gemini AI should there be requirements to action tasks related to the cloud. (Perplexity is just here for the ride)
After a brief hands-on session with the products, and experiencing one of the new features, the Super Steady Horizon Lock video mode myself (more on that later), we sat down to watch the Galaxy Buds presentation.
Galaxy Buds
Switching from the top opening cases in the Galaxy Buds 3 range, the Galaxy Buds 4 range comes in a clamshell case, with a transparent top cover and available in two models, the Galaxy Buds 4 and the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. The stalks have been replaced with a metallic blade, in an effort to refine the design of the earbuds, and distinguish themselves from looking like an airpods clone that the previous iteration did. This blade design maintains the adaptive controls, and increases the speaker size by 20%. The main difference between the 4 and the 4 Pro, physically, is the addition of eartips in the Pro variant, offering better noise isolation, when working in conjunction with the Adaptive ANC.
During the presentation, Samsung touted features like Adaptive ANC and EQ, as well as 24-bit, 96khz hi-resolution audio. They also offer 16khz calling, and comes equipped with Gemini AI and Bixby access, as well as the interpreter feature.
The Buds 4 range itself does not veer away from the Galaxy Buds 3 range in terms of technology and features, but seemingly the focus for this year’s range is a physical redesign. And it does look good – I think it presents itself in a clean, sleek look that won’t confuse others as airpods, or the other bulbous design earbuds that the Galaxy 1 and 2 range had. With an additional pink gold colourway coming, Samsung is trying to nail down a physical identity of its earbuds with the new design, that people can easily spot and identify.
Before moving onto the main presentation, Jens Anders, the VP of Mobile and Consumer Sales for Samsung NZ, shared a few words about the current technological climate. While they are acutely aware of Ramageddon (or the recently adopted term Memory Loss), and acknowledge that there may be struggles ahead when it comes to supply (with potentially TVs being affected down the road if conditions don’t improve), even more so than during Covid times, Samsung is confident that there will be enough stock of the S26 range to cater to the NZ market.
It’s telling that when a memory manufacturer like Samsung is also concerned with Memory Loss, and with the recent news that storage may be heading down the same pathway as RAM, due to the increase in the resource-heavy AI field, the light at the end of the tunnel may be further away than we think.
But never fear, here’s more AI!
S26 Series
“And here is what you are all here for” – said the presenter from Samsung for the Galaxy S26 range (and she’s not wrong), as we begin with an introduction video. In line with past S range iterations of late, there will be three models launching, the base model, the Plus model and the Ultra model. Cobalt Violet is marketed as the hero colour of the range this year.
Focusing on the Ultra, Samsung has proudly noted that it is the slimmest ever Ultra model, and slimmer than their main competitor’s Pro Max model. While the Ultra will house a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, the in-house Exynos 2600 chipset on the base and Plus models will be comparable, performance-wise, as the Exynos chipset is a 2nm process vs the 3nm chipset in the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Heat management is improved, thanks to a new Thermal Interface Material that allows the heat to dissipate more effectively, and provides a 60W plug-in charging power delivery, which allows 0 to 75% battery charge in just 30 minutes.
The focus this year, in terms of physical upgrades, is the camera lenses: While they retain the 200MP and 50MP resolutions from the Galaxy Z Fold series, they have increased the aperature on the lenses, allowing more light in. This means the main camera is 47% brighter, and the wide lens is 37% brighter. Utilising this change, Samsung’s Nightography has improved significantly: night shots provide clearer imagery, and artificial lights that typically show up as a bright blur are more defined, making night-time photography clearer. In the examples shown to us on screen, a night-time photo of a pier looks better on the S26 Ultra compared to the S25 FE and the S25 Ultra, with the definition of the light source visible, rather than just a glow.
A new feature of the Super Steady shot on video is the Horizon Lock mode, which further enhances the ability to shoot moving objects without too much distortion. When in this mode, the phone’s AI identifies the horizon in the background, then locks and matches the horizon as the shot is moving along, allowing for a seamless, smooth shot. Even rotating the phone from a landscape to a vertical orientation once Horizon Lock engages will ensure the shot is consistent throughout. The S26 Ultra also offers 8k 30fps video, as well as 4k auto framing and lossless video.
Now to the meat and potatoes of the presentation: AI. Samsung has reintroduced Bixby to the S range this year, and working in conjunction with Gemini AI and Galaxy AI, Samsung plans to utilise AI to make our lives even easier (I will be using Bixby and Galaxy AI interchangeably here, as both are Samsung AI features & suites). While not made explicitly clear, the plan for the S26 range is that Samsung will incorporate Galaxy AI for the phone side, while utilising Gemini AI for the cloud side, meaning they will be communicating with each other while operating separately. In addition, having Galaxy AI as the sole operator of your device ensures no security breach. In practical applications, you can use Bixby to organise transport between point A and point B, and the onboard AI will determine your scheduled time and location, then communicate with Gemini AI to go through the Uber booking process, up until payment step.
Galaxy AI has also been beefed up on device, too, with changes in the photo editing and voice prompts departments. The photo editing will now feature a change history, allowing you to undo AI changes step by step, rather than restarting the whole process again. The ability to make changes through voice prompts persists.
A new feature that is touted as a proactive assistant is Now Nudge, which allows Galaxy AI to detect and perform actions based on contextual cues. For example, if you have an appointment for, let’s say the Galaxy Unpacked event at Thursday from 7am to 9am, and your friend messages you to ask if you are free at 8am to catch up for breakfast, Galaxy AI will work out that you have blocked 7am to 9am out and advise to decline the event as you are already occupied. Furthermore, it will help with automation and go through steps of the process for you to make life easier. If you land at Auckland airport and need to get to the CBD in less than 30 minutes, it will find the optimal travel method, work out how long it will take you to get to the pickup point, and book an Uber for you, and the only step you need to take is the payment step.
Phone security and scam prevention is also imbued with AI in the S26 range: If an unsaved number rings your phone, you can prompt the AI to call screen for you, and it will use an AI voice to ask the caller for their name and purpose for calling. If the caller responds, Galaxy AI will transcribe their response on the screen, so you can read the response without needing to pick up the phone to find out who is calling. Additional AI features include 3rd party support for Audio Eraser, and improved DocScanner.
Finally, Samsung shows off a world’s first: the (built-in) privacy screen. This is not a screen protector or a software rendering, rather a privacy feature at hardware level: The pixels on the S26 range screens have been tweaked to have a cone-shaped field of vision (FOV), and any viewing angle beyond the standard 45 degrees FOV will cause the display to go black. While it is not entirely secure (people viewing your phone from behind can still get a clear view, naturally), the idea that it is built into the phone, and allows privacy set at an app/notification level, is very unique.
While the upgrades to the S26 range may seem iterative compared to the S25 range and the S25 FE, besides the camera lens upgrade, it would be significant for many that follow the standard consumer cadence of upgrading every few years. Besides the obvious hardware upgrade, it is obvious that Samsung, like many other technology juggernauts, are still all in on AI, and focus on creating new quality of life additions and improvements on their platforms. We will see how the masses accept this iteration of AI tools, when the S26 range launches today.
Specifications:
| Galaxy Buds 4 | Galaxy Buds 4 Pro | |
| Colour | Black, White | Black, White, Pink Gold (Pink Gold available at Samsung.com) |
| Dimensions | Earbuds: 18.3 x 19.3 x 30.5mmCase: 51 x 51 x 28.3mm | Earbuds: 18.1 x 19.6 x 30.9mmCase: 51 x 51 x 28.3mm |
| Weight | Earbud: 4.6gCase: 45.1g | Earbud: 4.6gCase: 45.1g |
| Speaker | Φ11 3.8t (1way)Φ 11 3.5t (WF) / 5.5×3.5×0.9T (TW) | Φ11 3.8t (1way)Φ 11 3.5t (WF) / 5.5×3.5×0.9T (TW) |
| Microphone | Digital (x3) | HSNR Digital (x2) Digital (x1) |
| Sound Quality | UHQ24bit Hi-Fi360 Audio with Direct Multi-Channel | UHQ24bit Hi-Fi360 Audio with Direct Multi-Channel |
| ANC & Ambient Sound | ANCAmbient soundAdaptive EQAdaptive ANC | ANCAmbient soundVoice/Siren DetectAdaptive EQAdaptive ANC |
| Battery | Earbuds: 45 mAhCase: 515 mAh | Earbuds: 61 mAhCase: 530 mAh |
| Music & Talk Time | Music:Up to 5 hours, 24 hours total (ANC on), up to 6 hours, 30 hours total (ANC off) Talk: Up to 3.5 hours, 18 hours total (ANC on), up to 4 hours, 20 hours total (ANC off) | Music:Up to 6 hours, 26 hours total (ANC on), up to 7 hours, 30 hours total (ANC off) Talk: Up to 4.5 hours, 20 hours total (ANC on), up to 5 hours, 22 hours total (ANC off) |
| S26 | S26+ | S26 Ultra | |
| Display | 6.3-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display120Hz adaptive refresh rate | 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display120Hz adaptive refresh rate | 6.9-inch QHD+Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display120Hz adaptive refresh rate |
| Dimensions & Weight | 71.7 X 149.6 X 7.2mm167g | 75.8 x 158.4 x 7.3mm190g | 78.1 x 163.6 x 7.9mm214g |
| Camera | 12MP Ultra-Wide – F2.2 50MP Wide – 2x optical zoom, F1.8 10MP Telephoto – 3x optical zoom, F2.4 12MP Front – F2.2 | 12MP Ultra-Wide – F2.250MP Wide – 2x optical zoom, F1.810MP Telephoto – 3x optical zoom, F2.412MP Front – F2.2 | 50MP Ultra-Wide – F1.9200MP Wide – 2x optical zoom, F1.450MP Telephoto – 10x optical quality zoom, 5x optical zoom, F2.910MP Telephoto – 3x optical zoom, F2.412MP Front – F2.2 |
| Chipset | Samsung Exynos 2600 | Samsung Exynos 2600 | Snapdragon® 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy |
| Memory & Storage options | 12GB / 512GB 12GB / 256GB | 12GB / 512GB 12GB / 256GB | 16GB / 1TB12GB / 512GB12GB / 256GB |
| Battery & Charging | 4,300 mAh | 4,900 mAh | 5,000 mAhWired: 75% in 30 mins (60W adapter)Super Fast Wireless Charging |
| OS | Android 16 One UI 8.5 | Android 16 One UI 8.5 | Android 16 One UI 8.5 |
| Connectivity | 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v5.4 | 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v6.0 | 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth v6.0 |
| Water Resistance | IP68 | IP68 | IP68 |
