Hands on: the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus are more of the same for more money
Published: (February 25, 2026 at 01:00 PM EST)
1 min read
Source: The Verge
Source: The Verge
Overview
The S26 Plus (left) and S26 (right) are mostly software updates.
New hardware feature
A cool new hardware feature debuted at Samsung’s annual Unpacked event, but it won’t be found on the Galaxy S26 or S26 Plus.
Software updates
While the Ultra model gets a new Privacy Display and avoids a price hike, Samsung’s base models are largely software updates that cost more than the outgoing models.
Some of those software updates are pretty neat:
- Audio Eraser can be applied to third‑party apps to make voices easier to hear and filter out background noise.
- Google’s Gemini AI will start doing agentic things—like booking an Uber for you—a step toward fulfilling the promise of an assistant that actually assists.