Samsung has unveiled its new S26 smartphone lineup, with artificial intelligence at the forefront of the devices' features.

“Imagine a phone that anticipates your needs before you even realize them. A smartphone that learns your habits and adapts in real-time, acting on your behalf. A phone as an AI agent,” said Samsung CEO Tae Moon Roh during his presentation.

The AI capabilities of the Galaxy S26 are powered by Google’s Gemini. Among its features is the ability for the neural network to open apps in a virtual background window and manage them while the user attends to other tasks.

At the Unpacked presentation, Google representative Samir Samat demonstrated a tool in action: in a family chat discussing a pizza order, Gemini reads the conversation, identifies participants' preferences, opens DoorDash, compiles a cart, and waits for final order confirmation.

Initially, this feature will also work with GrubHub, Uber, Kroger, Walmart, and several other apps.

Other AI Solutions

Samsung has introduced Perplexity as a second system AI agent. It serves as a “response engine” rather than a simple chatbot, and can be activated by voice or a side button.

The built-in Ask AI feature from Perplexity analyzes all open tabs and history simultaneously to answer questions without switching between sources.

The South Korean company emphasized that 80% of users interact with at least two AI agents daily. In response to this trend, developers have enhanced the Bixby assistant, improving its understanding of natural language. For instance, if a user says, “My eyes hurt from the screen,” it will automatically reduce brightness. The digital assistant also pulls relevant information directly into the conversation without needing to switch apps.

In addition to AI functionalities, Samsung introduced several other tools:

  • Now Brief — a personalized daily summary that highlights restaurant bookings from notification history or indicates scheduling conflicts;
  • Call Screening — identifies unknown numbers and briefly describes the purpose of the call before answering;
  • Nudge — recognizes the context of conversations. If someone asks about weekend plans, the calendar will pop up directly in the chat;
  • Photo Assist — adds missing elements to photos using Galaxy AI.

The front camera utilizes an AI processor for image processing to produce clearer selfies. Night video quality has been enhanced with noise reduction. The S26 Ultra can shoot 8K videos using the new APV codec.

Display with Hardware Privacy Protection

A special focus during the presentation was on a new technology for screen privacy protection. The display features a layer of “black matrix” that physically narrows the light dispersion angle from each pixel. As a result, only the phone's owner, looking directly at the screen, can see the image. For onlookers at an angle, the screen appears completely off.

This option can be manually activated, including for specific apps.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, starting at $1299, is the only smartphone on the market with such built-in screen protection. Pre-orders are already open.

The base Galaxy S26 starts at $899, while the Plus version begins at $1099.

As a reminder, in January 2025, Samsung released the Galaxy S25 lineup, which also emphasized chip performance and AI features.