"Can Your Phone Do This?" A Screen Others Can't See... Samsung's Long-Awaited Ambitious Bet

Five Years of R&D... "No Need for a Screen Protector"
From Shooting to Editing, All Seamless with the AI Camera
Price Hikes a Variable Amid Rising Component Costs

Samsung Electronics' new artificial intelligence (AI) phone, the Galaxy S26 series, is about to be unveiled.

Yonhap News Agency

The Galaxy S26 series, which will be unveiled at "Galaxy Unpacked 2026" in San Francisco, United States, on the 25th (local time), is expected to feature more advanced AI tools and enhanced privacy protection functions. Attention is also focusing on whether the rising prices of mobile application processors (APs), which serve as the "smartphone brain," will lead to higher launch prices.

Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S25 Ultra, supporting filming of the opening ceremony of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Yonhap News

According to the IT industry on the 23rd, Samsung Electronics will hold a global event at 10 a.m. on the 25th (local time) in San Francisco, United States, to unveil the Galaxy S26 series for the first time. The event will take place at 3 a.m. on the 26th Korea time and will be broadcast live online via Samsung.com and the YouTube channel.

At this event, Samsung, led by Roh Taemun, President and Head of the DX Division, will introduce the standard Galaxy S26, the Galaxy S26 Plus, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra. As the Galaxy S series is the company’s flagship product that mobilizes all of Samsung’s technological and research capabilities, numerous rumors related to various specifications and features have circulated, drawing strong consumer interest.

The most ambitious new feature Samsung is introducing this time is the "privacy display." This new technology prevents your smartphone screen from being fully exposed to others even without a privacy screen protector, and it is expected to be installed only on the top-tier Galaxy S26 Ultra model. The privacy display is the result of more than five years of research and development. Recognizing that each individual wants a different level of privacy protection, Samsung has designed it so that users can choose to activate this function only for specific apps and notifications. There is also an option to adjust visibility, allowing users to limit outside viewing to the desired degree.

Samsung stated, "Throughout the development process, we carried out countless tests and improvements and finely optimized both hardware and software, enabling us to introduce an innovative technology that safely protects privacy without affecting the user experience."

The increased choice of AI models is also notable. Up to the Galaxy S25 series, Samsung used Google’s Gemini model under a strategic partnership, but starting with the Galaxy S26, "Perplexity" will also be available as a new AI agent. Users will be able to perform tasks easily by giving voice commands to the AI agent without opening applications such as Notes or Gallery themselves. For example, if a user calls the AI agent by saying "Hey Plex" and then says, "Register a reminder to watch Galaxy Unpacked 2026 at 3 a.m. on February 26," the task can be completed without opening the reminder app.

Roh Taemoon, President of Samsung Electronics. Yonhap News

The camera functions will also become smarter with AI. With the brightest lens ever, it is expected to capture more light, enabling clear shooting even in dark environments. Samsung has hinted at a revolution in the overall camera experience, covering not only satisfying image capture but also editing using Galaxy AI. By providing advanced creative features, users will no longer need to jump between apps or search for editing tools. The phone is expected to offer surprising camera editing functions, such as turning a daytime photo into a nighttime scene or restoring a half-eaten cake to its original appearance.

At the end of the teaser video for the camera features released by Samsung, the phrase "Can your phone do that?" appears, signaling confidence and taking aim at Apple, which is a latecomer in AI technology.

However, the factor that may hold back the Galaxy S26 series is the "price." When Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 series in February last year, it froze prices at the same level as the previous generation so that more customers could enjoy the mobile AI experience. The Galaxy S25 Ultra started at 1,698,400 won for the 256GB storage model, the Plus at 1,353,000 won, and the standard model at 1,155,000 won.

Since then, however, the AI boom has intensified the shortage of mobile AP supply, which in turn has driven up component prices. The Galaxy S26 series is reportedly set to use both Samsung’s in-house AP, the Exynos 2600, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip.

All eyes are on the decision by President Roh Taemun as to what level the launch price will be set at, based on an assessment of consumers’ psychological ceiling. At a press conference during CES in the United States last month, Roh said, "The rise in memory prices is the biggest concern," adding, "It will inevitably have a certain impact on product prices."