Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra release date expectations, price estimates, upgrades

What we know so far:
Samsung has slowly but surely crept its releases earlier and earlier each year. Right now, Galaxy S series get announced in January, at the very start, to get a nice big momentum ahead of the competition. And we very much expect the Galaxy S26 Ultra to be unveiled in January of 2026, though some rumors do suggest that Samsung is trying its best to pull the release window even earlier — to the end of 2025.
Well, that'd certainly be a huge feat and accomplishment, but let's take it with a grain of salt for now. What we do know is that there will inevitably be a Galaxy S26 Ultra, and we will be able to lay our eyes on it pretty much as soon as we flip our calendars to 2026.
What will it have? The latest hardware and some camera upgrades are a given. What about a redesign? New materials, perhaps? S Pen upgrades, downgrades, or removal? Here's what the rumor mill is saying and everything we know so far on the Galaxy S26 Ultra:
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Galaxy S26 Ultra release date
As previously mentioned, Samsung loves to get a headstart with its flagship phones. The Galaxy S series has slowly crept up to launch earlier and earlier each year. Nowadays, they typically get their announcement in January and there's a couple of weeks' delay until they ship — usually pushing the launch to February.
However, a new set of rumors suggest that Samsung may be looking to pull the Galaxy S26 launch even earlier — by a month or so. Reportedly, it's aiming to at least have a pre-order period held in December, right on time for the holiday season. That'd be a risky play. Supposedly, Samsung wants to take some of that sweet, sweet holiday sales away from Apple's iPhones, but a launch in December seems to be a bit too late for that.
It may just be another step in the process of pulling the Galaxy S launch closer to October or even September, to directly compete with Apple's iPhones.
Device family | Announcement | Market release |
---|---|---|
Samsung Galaxy S23 series | February 1, 2023 | February 17th, 2023 |
Samsung Galaxy S24 series | January 17, 2024 | January 31, 2024 |
Samsung galaxy S25 series | January 22, 2025 | February 7, 2025 |
Samsung Galaxy S26 series | December, 2025? | Jan, 2026? |
* - probable dates
Galaxy S26 Ultra price and deals
Phone model | 256GB of storage | 512GB of storage | 1TB of storage |
---|---|---|---|
Galaxy S23 Ultra | $1199.99 | $1299.99 | $1619.99 |
Galaxy S24 Ultra | $1299.99 | $1419.99 | $1659.99 |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | $1299.99 | $1419.99 | $1659.99 |
Galaxy S26 Ultra | $1299.99* | $1419.99* | $1659.99* |
*- anticipated prices
The Galaxy S Ultra series is already quite pricey, even at the starting level. We don't think that Samsung will be looking to increase that price-tag further, and there are no news about new features or components that might drive that price up just yet.
Galaxy S26 Ultra deals to expect:
- Samsung: Samsung always celebrates new models with the so-called "enhanced trade-in" — the manufacturer will give you extra credit for an old phone, if it goes towards the purchase of the new model. Plus, almost always, new models launch with a "free storage upgrade" promo, meaning you will be getting the 512 GB model at the price of the 256 GB one for a limited time. Add to that the exclusive colors that you can only get on Samsung.com and there's plenty of incentive to go direct to the manufacturer.
- Verizon: Historically, Verizon lets you save up to $1,000 with new line activation on any myPlan and phone trade-ins in any condition.
- T-Mobile: typically also meets the $1,000 off offer with an eligible device trade-in on the Go5G Next plan.
- AT&T: AT&T took the cake with the best Galaxy S25 Ultra offer in early 2025, with up to $1,300 off on the phone. The catch is that it included a 3-year plan and an eligible trade-in phone in good condition
Galaxy S26 Ultra camera
Galaxy S26 Ultra expected camera setup:
- 200 MP main wide camera
- 50 MP ultra-wide camera
- 200 MP 4x zoom camera
- 12 MP selfie camera
On to the hottest rumor — it's said that the Galaxy S26 Ultra will axe a camera. Currently, the Ultra phones come with four — a main, an ultra-wide angle, a 3x telephoto for portraits and 5x periscope camera for extreme zoom. It's said that the S26 ultra will have one zoom camera — 200 MP sensor under a 4x lens. It doesn't take a huge leap to believe that. Samsung's expertise with high-res sensors and postprocessing has been getting better and better.
Just a couple of years ago, the Galaxy S23 Ultra had a 10 MP 10x zoom lens, but the S24 Ultra "side-graded" that to a 50 MP sensor with a 5x lens. Then used software tricks to make the most out of that 5x lens. So, the same could happen with the S26 Ultra, straight up removing one zoom camera, which always looked a bit overkill and redundant.
Another rumor from a somewhat reputable leakster claims that the variable aperture may make a return to the Galaxy flagships. Last we saw this was in 2018 with the Galaxy S9 phones. Basically, the phone had a mechanical aperture that could toggle between two settings — F1.5 to let more light in and get some more natural bokeh, and F2.4 when capturing landscapes and the light is plentiful, to get a more balanced focus and exposure.
Thing is, the differences were miniscule. Yes, in DSLR camera world, the difference between F1.5 and F2.4 is quite noticeable, but not so in smartphone world where the camera sensors and the lenses themselves are pretty small. So, the tech — while impressive — was quickly axed, probably due to its diminishing returns. Presumably, if Samsung really is thinking about re-introducing it with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, then it has been properly upgraded to truly make a difference.
Of course, post-processing also matters. The Galaxy S25 Ultra came with new post-processing rules where it doesn't oversharpen details for the first time in... ever. We would love to see how that new "realistic" approach to "soft detail" evolves further. We also got new camera filters this year, which kind of work like Apple's Photographic Styles. What's in the cards for next year?
The Galaxy S Ultra models have now topped our Camera Benchmark test for two years in a row, so we have great confidence in the Galaxy S26 Ultra's camera. However, that's for pictures.
In fact, now that camera quality seems to have peaked, at least for the current generation — maybe we will see Samsung redouble its efforts to improve video capture? While the Galaxy S25 Ultra's video certainly is great, it's still an area where Apple dominates with better cinematic effects, better detail, better stabilization and exposure, better sound — basically a step ahead in most ways that matter.
Galaxy S26 Ultra storage
Galaxy S26 Ultra storage capacity:
- 256 GB
- 512 GB
- 1 TB
The storage options have been 256 GB - 1 TB for a few years now. In 2025, that's still the standard. 256 GB is plenty of space, if you love recording video a bit too much 512 GB will do you fine, and 1 TB is way way too much headroom. But it's there. There's little reason to think that Samsung might push the envelope up to 2 TB any time soon.
Galaxy S26 Ultra design
Galaxy S Ultra models have had the old Galaxy Note 20 design over the past 3 years, but the S25 Ultra finally changed that. It now comes with flat sides, rounded corners — a complete rehash of the "personal notebook" look it had before.
The redesign is very fresh, which is why we are inclined to believe that it may remain nearly unchanged with the S26 Ultra. However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra did get some backlash around its decorative camera lens rings being bulky and unnecessary, and some don't like the sharp boxy look. We may see slight face lifts that address complaints.
There is the one thing we were hearing about — that the Galaxy S26 Ultra would supposedly have a selfie camera hidden under its display. Meaning, there won't be a punch hole in the screen. However, the most recent rumors state that this isn't true, and there will still be a tiny black dot at the top of the display to house the unobstructed selfie camera.
In a bit of sad news, the rumor mill says Samsung may remove the S Pen silo from the Galaxy S26 Ultra. That may also mean removal of full S Pen functionality. Although we consider the chances of that happening to be pretty low, the fact that it was reiterated in a few rumors suggests that maybe Samsung did, at the very least, throw the idea up on the drawing board once or twice. Needless to say, we are quite anxious to find out what the final decision was.
Galaxy S26 Ultra display
Phone | Screen size | Brightness |
---|---|---|
Galaxy S26 Ultra | 6.9"* | 3,000 nits peak |
Galaxy S25 Ultra | 6.9" | 2,600 nits peak |
* - anticipated sizes
A 6.9-inch screen seems to be the current limit of what powerusers are willing to deal with. It's huge, but manageable when the bezels are thin enough. It allows a lot of room to play with the S Pen over and to watch videos, yet it still fits most pockets. So that'll probably remain unchanged.
What we have been hearing about the Galaxy S26 Ultra is that Samsung may be upgrading the internal sheets of the AMOLED display with a new material that reduces internal reflections and improves color separation. The end result should be a brighter screen that's more energy-efficient.
This will be yet another anti-reflection upgrade on top of the excellent Gorilla Armor that we very much like on the S24 Ultra and S25 Ultra. And rumors say that the S26 Ultra will be hitting peak brightness to the tune of 3,000 nits, so the display is about to get even punchier and brighter — something we couldn't imagine right now.
Galaxy S26 Ultra battery
Samsung does not like to push its luck with the battery, ever since the Galaxy Note 7 incident. Which is why it continues to stick to 5,000 mAh cells today, and any battery life improvements come from processor efficiency and software. Will this change with the Galaxy S26 Ultra? It might, but the rumor mill says we may just get another 5,000 mAh cell.
Let's, for just a second, entertain the rumor that Samsung may remove the S Pen from the package. This doesn't mean just removing the hole from the side of the phone — it also means removing a layer under the display that makes the S Pen work — the Wacom digitizer. That would allow Samsung to make a full upgrade to Qi2 wireless charging. The Galaxy S25 Ultra comes as "Qi2 ready", but doesn't have magnets inside for full compatibility, because they mess up the digitizer's function. If that layer is gone — we may get actual
Of course... Samsung wouldn't do that. Would it?
Galaxy S26 Ultra features and software
The Galaxy S26 Ultra should ship with the next One UI 8 based on Android 16. These operating systems have not yet been demoed or teased, so we can't know what exactly they will entail. Though, "more AI features" is a safe bet.
Typically, we'd expect these to be provided by Google's Gemini. There have been some rumors suggesting that Samsung is looking at a partnership with newcomer in the AI scene Perplexity. We don't really see Samsung severing the close partnership it has with Google right now, but who knows.
The Samsung One UI comes with a hefty package of Samsung-specific apps — the Phone dialer has been redesigned, the Calendar is better to the stock Google Calendar, the Camera app is custom, there's a Samsung Gallery even a Samsung app store, if you are Play Store-phobic.
For updates, Samsung has been promising 7 years of support with its recent phones, which would mean that the Galaxy S26 Ultra should get Android 23 with One UI 15 in 2033.
Galaxy S26 Ultra hardware and specs
Galaxy S26 Ultra specs:
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 (?)
- RAM: 12 GB
- Battery: 5,000 mAh
- Charging: 45 W wired, 15 W wireless
- Storage: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB
- Camera setup: 200 MP, 50 MP Ultra-Wide (UW), 50 MP 5x, 10 MP 3x, 12 MP selfie
- Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4, Wi-Fi 7, NFC
The Galaxy S26 Ultra will come with the next Snapdragon flagship — if Qualcomm doesn't change its name for the 3rd time in a row, it should be called Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 (or Gen 2?). Early rumors suggested that Samsung Foundry is working on a 2 nm process for the manufacturing of the chip, but yield is extremely low currently. Therefore, it'll most probably be a 3 nm chip again. Of course, it'll come in a special "Made for Galaxy" overclocked edition for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Rumors suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 may reach up to 5 GHz clock speeds, with the familiar setup from before — 2 power cores, 6 efficiency cores. It is yet unknown if the "For Galaxy" model will go beyond that 5 GHz, or if the rumored speed is about the "For Galaxy" model in the first place.
It will also have a new Adreno 840 GPU, reportedly 30% faster than the Adreno 830 in the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Quite the jump, we are just a little skeptical, but if it's true — that'll be one small, fire-breathing gaming platform for sure!
The Samsung-Qualcomm partnership has been working out pretty well so far. Samsung's vapor cooling chamber seems to be doing a good job, and Snapdragons in the Galaxies over the past couple of years have been running buttery smooth.
While competitors like the ROG Phones go all out and over the top with performance, the Galaxy phones typically have plenty enough power on tap even for gamers. So, daily tasks are snappy, fast, and responsive.
Word is that Samsung is also going to pack a brand-new 5G modem in there. The Qualcomm X85 promises faster data transfers, better battery efficiency, and AI tuning. The exact specs say peak download speeds of 12.5 Gbps and upload speeds of 3.7 Gbps!
Buyers may have a good reason to pick the Ultra over the upcoming Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+, too. Depending on where you are located, the non-Ultra models may have Exynos chips instead of Snapdragons. Reports say that the US and South Korea will get Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 on all models. EU and other international markets will get to test the Exynos platform again. Which... doesn't make power users happy, but we'll see. Maybe Samsung has improved the process?
Should I wait for the Galaxy S26 Ultra?
- You should wait for Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra if you currently own a Galaxy S24 Ultra or even an S23 Ultra. These flagships still have plenty of juice left in them and will take you well into 2026 when the S26 Ultra will come out. Once you see what it has on offer, you will be able to make a better-informed decision on whether to jump in.
- You should not wait for Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra if you need an upgrade and a top-tier phone today. It's still a good half a year or so before the S26 Ultra comes out, if your current handset is falling apart — just go get the S25 Ultra. It is excellent right now and, chances are, it will be more than able to hold a candle or two to the S26 Ultra next year!