Live Updates From Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026 🔴

In just a few days, on Feb. 25, Samsung is expected to announce the latest in its Galaxy S-series smartphones. The year’s first Galaxy Unpacked event is taking place in San Francisco, aka Silicon Valley, aka the center of AI, starting at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT.

The headlining news will be the Galaxy S26, which we’re expecting to come in three flavors: S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra. The latter should once again pack Samsung’s best cameras and S Pen. While Samsung will no doubt share new Galaxy AI features, including new generative AI features for photos, we’re most excited for the “privacy display,” which supposedly lets you darken certain parts of your screen, the whole screen, or even incoming notifications so that it’s visible only to you.

Accompanying the S26-series phones will likely be new wireless earbuds—the Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro, both of which have been leaking for weeks. These should be direct competitors to Apple’s AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 3.

Gizmodo will be on the ground with live coverage of everything that Samsung announces. That includes any surprise announcements. Will we finally see a more polished version of Samsung and Google’s Android XR smart glasses?

Feb 20Keep the Nosy Nancys Away From Your Phone

The privacy screen of the Galaxy S26 Ultra is truly amazing pic.twitter.com/iZxirp7Bzh

— Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) February 13, 2026

Come Galaxy Unpacked, we expect the major standout feature of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra will be the so-called “Privacy Display.” There is a mountain of evidence stemming from past reports and recent leaks to show the top-end Galaxy flagship will sport a special screen technology available nowhere else. Essentially, the phone can darken the whole or parts of the display depending on the angle you’re looking at it from. If you’re staring straight ahead, you should see your apps and home screen like normal. From an off angle, the screen will appear dark.

Recent leaks from Ice Universe on X suggest that users would be able to set the phone to restrict peeping Toms and nosy Nancys from looking at notifications or the full screen. We expect this feature may only come to the Galaxy S26 Ultra at launch. We may need to wait longer for the Privacy Display to come to the regular and plus versions of the S26. —Kyle Barr

Feb 20Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Incoming?

Expect a vibe shift in design compared to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro pictured above. © Dua Rashid / Gizmodo

If there’s one thing we can likely expect from this year’s Unpacked, it’s a new pair of wireless earbuds—the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. What kinds of updates those will bring is anyone’s guess, but I’ve rounded up some of the most intriguing leaks and rumors we’ve seen so far. You can probably bank on a new look, that’s for sure.

One thing I wouldn’t bet on, however, is the inclusion of any wild new health features like Apple’s heart rate monitoring in the AirPods Pro 3, but you never know. I’m just hoping we get to say goodbye to the angular blade design. —James Pero

Feb 18Don’t Expect an S26 Edge

iPhone Air Galaxy S25 Edge Camera Plateaus 1 — © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

If you’re hoping Samsung will announce a successor to its super skinny S25 Edge, you might wanna sit down. Samsung reportedly canceled the S26 Edge because sales of the original were extremely weak. To be fair, ultra-thin phones aren’t just a tough sell for Samsung; Apple is struggling to sell the iPhone Air, too. —Raymond Wong

Feb 18More Evolution, Not Revolution

Samsung Galaxy S25 Nyc 01 — © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

The Galaxy S26 series will be the new shiny phones, but they’ll largely look and function like the Galaxy S25 series. Everything we’ve seen leaked so far points to the S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra being iterative versions of the S25, S25+, and S25 Ultra. That’s not a bad thing since the S25 series, especially the S25 Ultra, are still solid phones. But it’s not as exciting as things used to be over a decade ago when every annual refresh felt like it brought something genuinely new. There are only so many ways to make a glass slab. —Raymond Wong