Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026: S26 and AI, upgrades and announcements

Dubai: Samsung has officially confirmed its biggest event of the year, and the tech world is already paying close attention. Here's everything you need to know about Galaxy Unpacked 2026 and what's expected to be announced.

Samsung shared its official invitation on February 10, confirming that Galaxy Unpacked 2026 will take place on 25th February in San Francisco.

The keynote begins at 10 PM UAE time and will be livestreamed across Samsung's website, newsroom page and YouTube channel, making it easy for viewers around the world to watch the announcements as they happen.

The official teaser message focuses heavily on artificial intelligence, with Samsung describing the event as marking a new phase where intelligence becomes 'more personal and adaptive.' That language strongly suggests that AI tools and software features will play just as prominent a role as the hardware itself at this year's event.

Samsung has used Unpacked events in the past to introduce its biggest flagship phones and ecosystem products, so expectations are naturally high heading into February.

The headline announcements at Unpacked 2026 are widely expected to be the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+ and Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphones.

Leaks suggest Samsung will keep the overall design similar to the previous generation, with flat screens, rounded corners and vertical rear camera layouts. The visual changes are expected to be subtle rather than dramatic, with the most meaningful upgrades happening under the hood.

Key rumoured specs and features include:

Samsung's messaging around "Agentic AI" suggests the Galaxy S26 series will be positioned as a genuine step forward in how smartphones understand and respond to their users, rather than simply offering the same AI tools wrapped in new hardware. The colours are rumoured to be white, violet, blue and black. Pink, gold and silver shadow will be additional special colours rumoured by Sammobile.

Alongside the smartphones, Samsung is also expected to introduce the Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro at the same event.

Rumoured improvements for the new earbuds include:

Whilst the Buds tend to play second fiddle to the flagship phones at Unpacked events, they often represent a meaningful upgrade for existing Samsung users who rely on the earbuds daily.

Beyond the hardware, Galaxy AI is expected to be a major talking point throughout the entire keynote. Samsung has been building out its AI feature set over the past couple of years, and the Galaxy S26 series appears set to represent the most ambitious version of that vision yet.

The company's teaser language about intelligence becoming "more personal and adaptive" hints at features that go beyond the translation tools and photo editing capabilities that defined earlier Galaxy AI launches. Exactly what form those features will take remains to be confirmed, but the expectation is that AI will be woven throughout the entire Samsung experience rather than existing as a standalone add-on.

Samsung has set up a rather clever alert system ahead of the announcement. One of Samsung Mobile's posts on X doubles as a notification sign-up. Simply liking the post automatically enrols you for exclusive Galaxy Unpacked updates, sneak peeks and first-to-know alerts leading up to the event. No forms to fill in, no email addresses required.

Galaxy Unpacked events typically move quickly, with Samsung packing a significant amount of product news into a tightly produced keynote. Given the confirmed date of February 25, retail availability for the Galaxy S26 series is likely to follow within a few weeks of the announcement, possibly as early as mid-March.

Areeba Hashmi is a trainee at Gulf News.