The traditional Samsung Galaxy Unpacked conference was held on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, in San Francisco. As usual, the Korean company presented its flagship smartphones for the upcoming year, the S26 family, which includes the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra, showcasing the technological prowess of the manufacturer.
For years now, the smartphone market has reached a level of maturity where it becomes challenging for manufacturers to innovate significantly in terms of hardware components. However, Samsung’s approach this time is somewhat different.
More than 40% of the conference focused on AI
The conference began with a major focus on the development for smartphones by the Korean giant and most manufacturers: artificial intelligence (AI). This was evident as AI occupied more than 25 minutes of the approximately one-hour presentation, accounting for over 40%.
Since its launch two years ago, the Samsung Galaxy AI ecosystem has become a prominent player in the market. Several announcements were made, including the introduction of AI call filtering on the S26, allowing users to delegate unwanted calls to artificial intelligence, which then summarizes the caller’s message.
Samsung also expanded its “agentic” approach by integrating Perplexity alongside its own AI, Bixby, and Google Gemini. They promised comprehensive agents capable of navigating applications to perform tasks like booking a ride through Uber or searching for hotels and booking accommodations.
Apart from AI enhancements, the S26 includes more proactive contextual suggestions in the Samsung One UI interface and new AI editing and creation tools directly integrated into the photo/video interface. However, the most attention-grabbing aspect of the conference was not the artificial intelligence, especially since many new features come from Google and are already available on Pixel devices, such as call filtering.
Privacy Display – a true innovation
The standout feature from the conference was the Privacy Display on the S26 Ultra. This new screen allows users to switch between a wide viewing angle mode for sharing content with others and a restricted viewing angle mode to prevent nearby individuals from seeing the screen.
The innovative “Black Matrix” technology developed by Samsung Display controls the viewing angles at the pixel level, ensuring privacy for sensitive information like notifications, passwords, or specific applications. This technology could revolutionize smartphone displays, though further testing is required to assess its impact on image quality and eye strain.
Uncertainties and Availability
While the Privacy Display addresses a tangible issue, its exclusive presence on the S26 Ultra indicates a potential market expansion to other manufacturers in the future. The entire S26 lineup is available for pre-order, with in-store availability beginning on March 11.
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