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Last year, it felt like Samsung relied a bit too much on AI when trying to convince people to upgrade to its flagship phone. And while theres no shortage of features that utilize machine learning on the new Galaxy S26 Ultra, it feels like Samsung has done a much better job of filling out the rest of the phones kit with fresh hardware, faster charging and a more cohesive design. Its still rather expensive, but its price has stayed flat year-over-year at $1,300, which when combined with everything else makes it a much more attractive package than its predecessor. Design and displaySamsungs Ultra phones are always going to be somewhat boxy and thats OK. However, for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the companys top-of-the-line handset is getting a slightly curvier appearance thanks to rounder corners. Theres also a very (and I do mean very) small reduction in size that technically makes this version the thinnest and lightest Ultra to date (214 grams and 7.9mm thick). That said, considering the previous model weighed 218 grams and measured 8.2mm, its incredibly hard to feel a difference even when you know what youre looking for. The two biggest changes to the S26 Ultra's exterior design are more rounded corners and an aluminum chassis instead of titanium like we got on the S25U. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetIn reality, the biggest exterior change is that Samsung has ditched the titanium frame from last years phone in favor of an Armor Aluminum chassis with Corning Gorilla Armor 2 panels in front and back. Samsung says this new design is meant to make the Ultra fit in better with its less expensive siblings while also making it easier to do things like color match the phones body to the rest of the device. Also, for anyone who keeps track of Samsungs palette, the hero color for the S26 Ultra is a rather fetching shade of purple called cobalt violet, with sky blue, white and black available as well (plus silver shadow and pink gold being Samsungs online exclusive hues).If you look closely at the top of the phone, you can see where a notification has been blacked out by the S26 Ultra's Privacy Display. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetHowever, my favorite new thing on the S26 Ultra is its Privacy Display. When activated, it functions a lot like HPs Sure View tech, which prevents people from peeking at your screen from acute angles. It works both when viewed from the side or up and down and has a surprising amount of customization. Not only can you set it to turn on automatically when the phone asks you for a password or PIN, it can also be triggered by specific apps or whenever you receive a notification. But perhaps the most impressive thing is that theres almost no impact on image quality. When Privacy Display is active, there is a minor reduction in overall brightness, but aside from that, its really hard to tell when its on (at least from the front). Furthermore, the S26 Ultras 6.9-inch AMOLED screen has the same underlying specs as last year, including its 120Hz variable refresh rate and 2,600 nit peak brightness, so there are pretty much no trade-offs for the added functionality. Performance and chargingThe S26 Ultra still comes with an included S-Pen and a built-in storage slot, but it still doesn't have Bluetooth connectivity like on some of Samsung's older models. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetInside, the S26 Ultra features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip along with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. Compared to its predecessor, Samsung claims the NPUs performance has made the biggest leap with it being 39 percent more powerful year-over-year with respectable increases for its CPU (19 percent faster) and GPU (24 percent faster) as well.As for charging, both wired and wireless speeds have gotten a big boost with the former now rated at up to 60 watts (up from 45 watts) or 25 watts (up from 15) for the latter when using compatible Qi2 pads. Samsung says buyers will even get a three amp cable in the box, so all you need to do to get those peak wired speeds is to hook it up to the right adapter.A small quirk with the S26 Ultra's S-Pen is that because the end of the stylus is curved to match the corner of the phone, if you put it in "wrong," it'll stick out a bit. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetUnfortunately, were still not getting a magnetic ring inside the phone, which means if you want to use the S26 Ultra with magnetic accessories, youll need to pair the phone with a case that supports that functionality. This is super frustrating because Samsung says this decision was made in part to keep the handset as thin as possible, but when you consider the difference between the S26 Ultra and the S25 Ultra is 0.3mm, that choice feels rather misguided. CamerasOne of my biggest complaints about last years S25 Ultra is that the only new hardware was an updated 50MP sensor for its ultra-wide lens, which is the camera I (and probably most people) use the least. Thankfully, it seems Samsung took note of that because while the resolution of its 200MP main cam, 10MP 3x telephoto and 50MP 5X telephoto are the same as before, the S26 Ultras main and 5x zoom lenses now have significantly wider apertures (from f/1.7 to f/1.4 and f/3.4 to f/2.9, respectively). This results in as much as 47 percent more light reaching the phones primary sensor (or 37 percent for the 5x telephoto), which should result in some mjor gains in photo quality and low light sensitivity. That said, I wasnt able to properly test this during my hands-on session, so Im going to reserve final judgement for a proper review. The S26 Ultra's 200MP main and 50MP 5x zoon lenses feature significantly larger apertures, which should deliver much improved image quality in low light conditions. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetMeanwhile, for video capture, Samsung is adding support for the APV codec at up to 8K/30 fps to the S26 Ultra along with a new horizon lock feature that will keep your footage level no matter how much you rotate the phone. Now I will admit that the latter didnt impress me much when I first heard about it, but after testing it out and spinning the phone a full 360-degrees while recording a clip, I was shocked when the resulting video showed no hint of being whirled around. Samsung also says the handsets improved Nightography processing uses AI to recognize noise patterns in low light to improve image quality. But similar to the wider apertures bringing in more light, Ill believe it when I see it. Finally, theres a new AI-powered Photo Assist tool that lets you edit or adjust images using natural language prompts. From what I experienced, its effective and works as youd expect. However, with the proliferation of services and devices offering similar functionality over the past year, this feature feels more like Samsungs attempt to keep up with the Joneses. AI featuresWhen it comes to AI, the S26 Ultra is getting the same batch of new and improved features as the rest of the S26 family. So if youre big into machine learning, theres no need to pay extra for this model. Furthermore, many of the updates for 2026 are tweaks or refinements of existing things like the Gallery app, which now uses AI to automatically sort screenshots into eight different categories so theyre easier to find later. Theres also what Samsung is calling Now Nudge, which functions a lot like Googles Magic Cue. Its built into the Samsung keyboard and it can do things like suggest relevant photos based on your conversations. One of the S26's most powerful new AI features is Automated App Actions, which allows the phone to do things like book a car ride via Uber while you continue to use other apps in the foreground. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetTo me, the most impressive of the bunch is the S26s Automated App Actions, which allow you to ask the phone to do slightly more complicated tasks like ordering an Uber to a specific location. After your initial prompt, Gemini can even complete the task in the background while you go back to doomscrolling or watching videos. When its done, youll get a notification so you can manually review and confirm the command. Unfortunately, Uber will be the only supported app at launch, though Samsung says its working on expanding the feature to others like Instacart. Early thoughtsThe Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available in four main colors: sky blue, black, cobalt violet and white, along with two more online exclusive hues in silver shadow and pink gold. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetLook, theres no getting around it: $1,300 is a lot to spend on a phone. That said, considering the RAM shortage thats going on right now, keeping the S26 Ultras price the same as last years phone feels like a small blessing. And when you get that on a handset with a more refined design, a beefier chip, a fancy Privacy Display, faster charging and an updated generation of AI-powered tools, Samsungs latest flagship feels like a much better deal than its predecessor. Really, the only thing that hasnt been improved is the Ultras S-Pen, which as time goes on, is starting to feel more and more like a consolation prize for people who are still nostalgic about the Note line than a true tentpole feature. Now this doesnt mean that people with an S25 Ultra or even an S24 Ultra should run out and upgrade. But for anyone with something older than that whos in the market for a true do-everything phone, the S26 Ultra has quite a bit to offer. Pre-orders for the Galaxy S26 Ultra are live now, with official sales slated for March 11. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-s26-ultra-hands-on-meaningful-tweaks-plus-a-slick-new-privacy-display-180000057.html?src=rss
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To coincide with the release of Samsung's new Galaxy S26 family of phones, Google is pushing out a small but meaningful update to Circle to Search. As a reminder, Circle to Search allows you to carry out a Google Search from almost anywhere on your phone. Just tap and hold your device's home button, and then circle the passage or image you want to know more about. With previous iterations of Circle to Search, the tool's underlying AI system was limited to searching against a single object in an image. Now, thanks to Gemini 3, it can scan and identify multiple objects at the same time. Naturally, Google is quick to point out the boon this represents for shopaholics. If you see a fit you like on Instagram, you can circle an entire person and the tool will attempt to find a match for each item they're wearing, including any shoes and accessories. At the same time, Google has made it easier to see how those clothes might look on you by bringing its virtual try on feature directly inside of Circle to Search. The benefits of the new model aren't only limited to shopping queries. Building on a search technique Google debuted with AI Mode, Circle to Search can now also reason through the relationship between different objects in an image. So say you see a photo of a coral reef and want to know how all the different pictured fish live together, Circle to Search will not only be able to identify the different species shown but also explain how they coexist with one another. Google is bringing the new and improved Circle to Search to Galaxy S26 and Pixel 10 phones first before rolling it out to more Android devices soon. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/googles-circle-to-search-can-now-identify-multiple-objects-in-an-image-180000385.html?src=rss
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Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. The company took the opportunity to reveal the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on impressions of all three handsets as well.In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. Here's a look at everything Samsung announced at the latest Unpacked:Galaxy S26 and S26+ Sam Rutherford for EngadgetNew-ish year, new Samsung phones. Let's deal with the out-and-out bad news first. The S26 and S26+ are each $100 more expensive than their predecessors (the RAM shortage isn't exactly helping to keep prices down). They start at $900 and $1,100, respectively, for variants with 256GB of storage. Samsung has tweaked the design a bit this time by rounding the corners to align them more with the S26 Ultra's look. The base model has a slightly larger display than the S25 at 6.3 inches, though the S26+ still has a 6.7-inch screen (albeit with a higher resolution than the S26 can handle). The S26 has a larger battery capacity than the S25 too at 4,300mAh. In North America, China and Japan, Samsung is sticking with Qualcomm chips rather than using its own Exynos 2600. If you pick up an S26 or S26+ in those markets, it will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.The camera modules are the same as last year, but Samsung is aiming to supercharge them with upgrades elsewhere, such as ProScaler image upscaling and an MDNIe chip that's said to greatly improve color precision. There's also a video stabilization feature that tries to keep the horizon level while you're following a moving person or pet, which sounds useful for action shots. The new Object Aware Engine is said to better render skin tones and hair textures to make your selfies look better. Samsung has reworked some AI features too, such as making Now Brief and Auto Eraser compatible with more apps.Pre-orders for the S26 and S26+ are open today, and they'll be available on March 11. The phones will be available in purple, blue, black, white, silver and rose gold, though the latter two are online exclusives. We've already had a chance to try the Galaxy S26 and S26+, so be sure to check out our hands-on story for our first impressions.Galaxy S26 UltraThe Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available in the same colorways and on the same date as its smaller siblings. It starts at $1,300, so theres no price increase from the S25 Ultra. Preorders open today.The S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a QHD+ resolution of 3120 x 1440 and a 120Hz refresh rate. That's all well and good, but the display is hiding (that being the key word) what's perhaps the Galaxy S26 Ultra's most interesting feature.The device has a Privacy Display thats said to be the first of its kind on a smartphone. The idea here is to prevent people around from seeing whats on the screen from acute angles. There's a small decrease in brightness when Privacy Display is active, and there are lots of customization options. You can set up Privacy Display to activate when you're asked for a password or PIN, or when you get a notification or open certain apps. So if (for instance) you tend to look at your banking apps when youre on public transit and dont want other passengers to see how much moolah you have, Privacy Display seems like a very handy feature.Elsewhere, the S26 Ultra runs on the same chipset as its smaller siblings. It comes with 12 or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. The battery is larger than the ones in the other S26 models, as the Ultra has a 5,000 mAh capacity. There's support for Super Fast Charging 3.0 as well. Alas, Samsung still hasn't seen fit to offer built-in Qi2 charging magnets in the S26 lineup, which seems like a wild oversight in the year 2026.The selfie camera is the same as on the S26 and S26+. The S26 Ultra has 50MP ultrawide and 200MP wide lenses, along with dual 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto sensors. The resolutions of those cameras are the same as on the S25 Ultra, but the main 200M and 5x telephoto sensors now have wider apertures to let in more light. The S26 Ultra of course has the camera software features (and other AI features) found in the S26 and S26+.We'll have a review of the Galaxy S26 Ultra soon. In the meantime, head on through to our hands-on story for our initial impressions.Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 ProSam Rutherford for EngadgetWhile the S26 phones are more iterative updates this year, Samsung has given its Galaxy Buds a proper refresh. It revamped the design and shape of the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to do away with the angular look of the stems and remove the lights from them. The earbuds have a "more refined, computationally designed fit" too, according to Samsung. The company claims the latest earbuds have smaller earbud heads that allow for a better, more secure fit and a more "comfortable experience during all-day wear." The Galaxy Buds 4 remain in an open-fit format while the Buds Pro 4 have a canal-fit design.The latest earbuds are said to offer improved audio quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), with an ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. On Buds 4 Pro, there's a siren detection feature that enables ambient sound to let you hear things like alarms or emergency vehicle warnings.The Buds 4 Pro have a wide woofer that increases the effective speaker area by nearly 20 percent compared with the previous gen earbuds, Samsung said. They support 24-bit/96kHz audio.If you're using Galaxy Buds 4 or Buds 4 Pro with a Galaxy device, you'll be able to use Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity with hands-free voice controls (though the "hey, Plex" command for the latter might be a tad confusing for folks who use a certain media server app). The Buds 4 Pro support head gesture controls for managing calls and Bixby interactions as well.As with the S26 phones, pre-orders for the earbuds open today and they'll hit shelves on March 11. The Galaxy Buds 4 cost $180 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will run you $250. Both models are available in white and black with a matte finish. There's an online-exclusive pink option for Buds 4 Pro as well.Android AI featuresAhead of Unpacked, Samsung confirmed that it would offer Perplexity as an AI agent option in Galaxy AI on the S26 lineup. It also recently updated Bixby to make its own virtual assistant more conversational.On top of that news, Google had announcements of its own to make at Unpacked regarding new Android AI features, which will of course be available on S26 devices. On those handsets and the Pixel 10 lineup, the Gemini app will soon have a feature (in beta) that enables you to offload multi-step tasks, such as booking a ride or putting a grocery order together, to AI. It sure sounds like an attempt to build out agentic AI features on mobile devices.Launching soon as a beta feature in the Gemini app for #Pixel10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S26 series, you can offload multi-step tasks directly to Gemini.Simply long-press the power button and ask Gemini to help book you a ride home or reorder your last meal. Gemini https://t.co/GjfXTnGg0k pic.twitter.com/YGIvqBkbu3 Google Gemini (@GeminiApp) February 25, 2026 Starting this week on Pixel 10 devices (and soon on S26 phones), Circle to Search will offer the ability to find details about multiple objects at once, such as entire outfits instead of single pieces. Moreover, Gemini-powered, on-device Scam Detection for phone calls will be available for S26 devices in English in the US.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/everything-announced-at-samsung-unpacked-galaxy-s26-lineup-and-more-180000129.html?src=rss
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The wait is over. At its Unpacked event today, Samsung took the wraps off its new S26 family of phones. Unlike the S26 Ultra, the S26 and S26+ represent mostly iterative updates. Samsung has tweaked the design of the two devices, making it so they share the same rounded corners of their more expensive sibling. Additionally, the S26 has a slightly larger 6.3-inch AMOLED display and a higher capacity 4,300mAh battery inside. As for the S26+, it still has a 6.7-inch screen and 4,900mAh battery. Like in years past, Samsung is depending on new and expanded software capabilities rather than updated hardware to give the S26 and S26+'s cameras an edge over the competition. As before, both phones feature a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom. For selfies, theyre equipped a 12MP front-facing camera. The company says its new Object Aware Engine will allow the front-facing cameras to deliver more pleasing portrait mode shots, with better rendering of skin tones and hair textures. For videos, Samsung has updated its Super Steady tech, making it capable of maintaining a 360-degree horizontal lock. The upgraded feature should make it easier to maintain a consistent level horizon while trying to record a video of a moving child or pet. A new feature named Auto Framing uses a machine learning algorithm to automatically tighten the frame while filming 4K and 8K clips. The S26 will be available in six different colorways, with the four pictured here available in store. Sam Rutherford for EngadgetAnd if you're a Snapdragon fan, you can rest easy. While some pre-release reports suggested Samsung was planning to use its new flagship Exynos chipset across the entire S26 line, North American and Japanese variants of the S26 and S26+ will once again ship with Qualcomm silicon instead. Specifically, the two phones come specced with the speedy Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which debuted alongside the OnePlus 15 in November 2025. It will be interesting to see how the new Exynos 2600 compares with its Snapdragon counterpart; the former is the world's first 2nm chipset. Over on the software front, Samsung has upgraded its suite of AI features. For instance, the company has made Now Brief capable of pulling from a wider variety of apps to generate more comprehensive daily summaries. Similarly, the company's handy Auto Eraser feature now works across streaming services like Netflix, allowing you to make it easier to hear dialogue in a greater variety of videos. The two phones will retail for $899 and $1,099, making them both $100 more expensive than their predecessors. They come standard with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Samsung will also offer 512GB variants, alongside six different colorways of each phone. In-store, you'll find the S26 and S26+ in purple, blue, black and white, with silver and rose gold being online exclusives. Pre-orders open today, with general availability to follow on March 11. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsungs-s26-and-s26-offer-familiar-designs-snapdragon-8-gen-5-chips-and-new-software-features-180000224.html?src=rss
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Samsung isnt waiting a full year to reveal its latest Galaxy Buds. The company debuted the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro at its Galaxy S26 Unpacked event where the hot topic was three new phones. When it comes to Samsungs earbuds, the company has overhauled the shape and design while improving sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC) and adding new features. As always, the best of what the Galaxy Buds 4 lineup has to offer will be reserved for people with a recent Samsung phone. While the company is keeping its AirPods-esque blade design, it retooled that element to ditch the angular shape and the gimmicky lights. Its now a flat, metal panel and the area that allows for pinch controls has been engraved so that your fingers find it easily. In terms of shape, Samsung says it analyzed data from hundreds of millions of ear data points and ran over 10,000 simulations to improve overall fit with smaller earbuds. The Galaxy Buds 4 remain an open-fit design while the Pro version has a tip that seals off your ears. Like before, the company kept the transparent lids for the charging cases, although this time the earbuds lay flat in those rather than standing up. Inside of the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, Samsung is using a wider woofer as part of its two-way driver setup for cleaner bass. That configurations dedicated tweeter should also deliver natural, rich treble, according to the company. Both Galaxy Buds 4 models support high quality audio up to 24bit/96kHz (from a recent Samsung device) and direct multi-channel 360 audio is available as well. Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Sam Rutherford for Engadget Although the Galaxy Buds Pro 4 got the bulk of the ANC upgrades, Samsung says it improved noise-canceling performance for both models. The company promises effective noise blocking for transit sounds engine noise from buses, trains or planes in addition to everyday background noise. Whats more, both of the Galaxy Buds 4 devices feature ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC, with the latter two applying adjustments automatically as needed. The Pro model can also detect the users voice and increase ambient sound for conversations a feature thats held over from the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. When you stop talking, the earbuds will automatically resume ANC. The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro also has a Siren Detect feature that activates ambient sound so that you can hear safety alerts like alarms or emergency vehicles. The new item that pushes the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro closer to the AirPods Pro 3 is head gestures. Samsung will now let users manage calls and interact with Bixby by nodding or shaking their head side to side. As before, the Galaxy Buds remain a conduit to Bixby, but theyre also a gateway to Gemini and Perplexity all of which can be accessed hands-free via voice controls. The Galaxy Buds 4 ($180) and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro ($250) are available for pre-order today before hitting shelves on March 11. Both models will be available in black and white, and theres a pink gold option on the Pro, although that third color is a Samsung online exclusive. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/samsungs-redesigned-galaxy-buds-4-lineup-has-retooled-sound-improved-anc-and-new-features-180000718.html?src=rss
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