Samsung Galaxy Unpacked live — Galaxy S26 Ultra and wha…

Samsung is holding its annual winter Unpacked event in San Francisco on February 25. We have live reports from the ground and around the world.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Today's the day we expect to see Samsung unveil its next generation of flagship Galaxy S-series phones, likely leading with the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The first Galaxy Unpacked of the year will kick off today (that's February 25) at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (for Australians, that's 5am AEDT on the 26th).

TechRadar will be covering the event live, with our own Hamish Hector being boots on the ground in San Francisco for the big showcase. But you're in the right place for all the news, views and reactions from Unpacked and ahead of it as we pick over what to expect from Samsung and any last-minute leaks. As we're in the final stretch before the countdown to Galaxy Unpacked hits one hour, I can't help but be curious about pricing.

There's a lot of commentary on if we'll see price increases for Samsung's Galaxy S series, and our best hint might be a slightly reduced offer for Samsung's now annual 'reserve the next galaxy campaign." It was announced, though, with some nice trade-in deals, and I suspect we'll see plenty of carriers and even Samsung itself offering compelling discounts to make the Galaxy S26 lineup a bit more affordable.

However, with no rumored major changes to the looks, we'll need to go hands-on to determine how the S26 compares. Either route, we don't have much longer to wait now. And here's a shot of Hamish with his badge. We should have some photos of the venue soon. TechRadar's own Hamish Hector is en route to Galaxy Unpacked in San Francisco, California, but has already shared an early shot of his badge, though it doesn't give much, if any, hints.

However, we did spot three circles, which might hint at the camera layout, and several lines. We'll be on the ground soon enough with more as we count down to Galaxy Unpacked kicking off. Jacob Krol stepping in to carry us until Samsung's February 25th Galaxy Unpacked kicks off at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST (or 5am AEDT on the 26th in Australia), and one thing on my mind is whether we will see another Galaxy S Edge device.

Most signs, and many rumors, reports, and leaks, point to Samsung not ushering in a next generation at Unpacked. Instead, it'll be the Galaxy S26 Ultra, S26 Plus, and standard S26. That doesn't mean we might not at least be treated to a tease, if you remember Samsung first teased the ultra-thing smartphone alongside the proper unveiling of the S25 Ultra, S25 Plus, and S25. It could be, though, that Samsung's going to show that thinness elsewhere, with a reported S26 Edge arriving later in 2026, or it might not arrive at all.

Let us know what you're hoping to see in the comments below. I'm taking a quick break before the festivities kick off, but I'm leaving you in the extremely capable hands of Jacob Krol, TechRadar's US Managing Editor, News. Only kidding, that's okay. I respect your social presence. But we do have Hamish Hector out in San Francisco at the main launch event, and he'll bring you some delightful videos for your enjoyment later on today.

So if you fancy seeing what's happening, make sure you visit TechRadar on TicTok. I've been digging through the old camera roll and have uncovered a shot I look at the London launch event for the Galaxy S25 series.I'll be back at the same location later today, so we can play a lovely game of spot the difference. If we look at the rumors surrounding today's event, there's a chance we see other products that aren't phones shown off.One of the biggest leaks surrounds what look to be the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro wireless earbuds.

There are some contradicting reports around these buds, so even if we do get to see them today, it's not totally clear what new features they'll offer. Something which does seem likely is a change in design, with leaked renders suggesting flatter stems and a new charging case, compared to the Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro (pictured above). Fans of South Korean rap listen up, Samsung has confirmed BTS boy band member Suga will be making an appearance during today's unpacked event.

Samsung had a few of the BTS boys at its CES 2026 press conference last month, and the partnership between the two continues. Get ready… SUGA rush incoming! ✨ #GalaxyAI #GalaxyUnpackedLearn more: https://t.co/GFxLB9cti9 pic.twitter.com/jDOFOSAoxvFebruary 25, 2026 It's poll time, and I want to know what you're most looking forward to seeing from the Galaxy S26 series at today's Galaxy Unpacked event.Wondering where on earth this mystical poll is?

Just scroll up and you'll find it just before the live stream YouTube video. While we're still waiting for Samsung to officially take the covers off its "latest Galaxy smartphones", if you pre-order the devices ahead of their release date, Samsung will give you 512GB of storage for the price of 256GB.That's a saving of £170 in the UK, but this promotion isn't available everywhere. I'm not seeing the double storage pre-order off on the US or Australia pages.

Oh, and we're now just four hours from the start of the event. Lovely. Let's make this fun, folks. I'll be at the London launch event today to bring you all the news and analysis as it happens, but why not join me and tune in yourself from home, or at the office, or from the beach if you're fortunate enough to be sunning yourself on the sand? I've even made it really easy for you, as there's the live stream video just above.A reminder, the show starts at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT.

Something which struck me during the Galaxy S25 launch was the almost complete absence of the S Pen. Samsung's iconic stylus – which debuted on the Galaxy Note in 2011 – wasn't mentioned, and appeared in just one image during the event. It led me to ponder whether it could be the end for the stylus. Well, we're just hours away from finding out if the S Pen is about to enter retirement, or whether it lives to fight another day.

Last year Samsung teased us with our first look at the slimline Galaxy S25 Edge and a silhouette of the Galaxy Z TriFold. It gave the launch event some extra juice, and I'm wondering if there will be a similar reveal this time round. While I was at CES in Las Vegas last month, I got the chance to try the latest software on Samsung's Galaxy XR headset. While the experience was a positive one, browsing the web and flying over the earth to different locations weren't exactly revolutionary.

What I'd really like to see is a first look at the Android XR smart glasses, which Samsung said during an earnings call last month, will land this year. I was impressed with the OnePlus 15 and its HUGE 7,300mAh battery when I used it as my personal phone for a few weeks earlier this year. This is a phone with huge amounts of power, a large display, and can actually last two days (and sometimes longer than that) with actual usage.

In our review, we said "this phone beats everything by hours and hours – it lasted almost three days in my real world testing. Also it charges super fast, if you ever need to charge it."The bar has been set, Samsung. Can you beat it? So what am I looking forward to today? Well, a feature which really stood out to me at last years Galaxy S25 launch was the improvements Samsung had made to its Object Eraser tool.

It wipes the floor with Google's eraser tool, and many others I've tried.So this year I'm hoping to see more AI wizardry that makes a clear, positive impact and – most importantly – is easy to use with minimal explanation. John here, ready to take you through today's Samsung launch event. I appreciate you joining us, and I can't wait to see what's in store.It's another year, and another major Samsung launch to get the whole tech industry warmed up for the onslaught of exciting new devices, services and features in the coming months.And just so we're clear, Roland has been extremely generous by digging out that rather old photo of me.

I look less fresh-faced these days, but the energy levels are still here. LET'S GO. And speaking of tech luminaries, I'm about to hand over this live blog to John McCann, a former Global Managing Editor at TechRadar, a phones specialist, a decent chap, and a man who often rocks a serious head of hair. I've known John for a decade or so (!) and so I think I'll be leaving this blog in good hands, while I go and write up some interesting things I've see…

make sure to keep your browser locked on TechRadar. Speaking of Mr Ulanoff, he's usually at Galaxy Unpacked but unfortunately the snow in New York has meant he's not been able to escape the Big Apple to get to San Francisco. But I'm rather sure he'll have thoughts about the Galaxy S26 series and other stuff Samsung might have up its sleeve. Moving outside of the Galaxy S-series phones, I'm hoping we hear a little more about the Galaxy TriFold today, such as its capabilities and any software features.

Editor-at-Large Lance Ulanoff went hands-on with the Galaxy TriFold and was suitably impressed, so I'm hoping we see more about what this big foldable can do. All that being said, with some emulation Cyberpunk 2077 can be made to run on current smartphones. But my Galaxy gaming ambitions might be a bit far fetched, as Microsoft pushes smartphone gaming via Xbox Cloud Gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

However, I think being able to run actual Xbox games on a smartphone without complex emulation could be really cool; not that I reckon Microsoft or Samsung are listening much to what I think. I say this a lot, but I'd be quite keen on some form of gaming upgrade for the Galaxy S26 series. I'd love to see the ability for the Galaxy S26 Ultra to use what's likely to be a good bit of smartphone power to run Xbox games, all via a partnership with Microsoft; Samsung has previously partnered with the Redmond giant.

I mean, I'm more of a fan of the Android experience on Google's Pixel phones. But I've come to accept Samsung's One UI and its approach to color science when it comes to phone photography. So I don't feel like there's masses or room to make sweeping changed there; a little nip and tuck would be fine. I'm racking my brain for what other upgrades I'd like to see from the Galaxy S26 series. More battery life is always appreciated, but outside of that I sort of think there's not much else the Galaxy S phones can do as I think they already nail the Android phone formula.

I've never been madly obsessed with privacy, and don't go in for tin-foil hat conspiracies. But having a feature that could hide my banking app checking while out and about, or obfuscate some embarrassing nonsense I'm looking at on my phone, might be quite appealing. One cool upgrade the Galaxy S26 Ultra is tipped to bring to the table is a so-called 'Privacy Display'. Supposedly this is a built in feature that can be used to make the screen appear dark and unreadable to sideways and over-the-shoulder snoopers.If such a feature works well it could be a neat USP for the S26 Ultra.

Equally, 70% of you told me you’re not hyped about the Galaxy S26, which signals to me that there's not a huge amount of interest in what's likely to be one of the best phones of 2026. So maybe we've hit peak smartphone, and the excitement of generation-to-generation upgrades has withered. I actually think the Galaxy S26 series could be one of the most iterative generations of Android smartphones ever.

This may not be a terrible thing though, as Samsung has somewhat perfected its flagship phone recipe. Speaking of upgrades, going by some of the top Galaxy S26 rumors, I'm not expecting the Galaxy S26 Ultra or its smaller predicted siblings to be very different from the Galaxy S25 series. New chips are almost a given, but I've not heard many rumors of new cameras or any major design tweaks. Further to that, Samsung has previously boosted the vapor chamber cooling system on its most flagship of phones, so I'd expect the same for the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

But with a new chipset expected, and surely some improvements on power efficiency and cooling, I'd very much hope the Galaxy S26 Ultra doesn't run to hot. Now I'd take the the below news with a degree of skepticism, as even if everything is legit, pre-release phones aren't likely to be running the latest software and optimizations to get the best out of them. So with that in mind, it's not hugely surprising that the Galaxy S26 Ultra could be running a little warm right now.

Beep! Beep! news just in: The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has been leaked in a hands-on video, and it runs worryingly hot! RIght so what's the rundown? Well in simple terms expect to see a suite of new Galaxy S-series phones. The Galaxy S26 Ultra will surely lead the charge as the main phone, followed by the Galaxy S26 Plus and Galaxy S26. Hello there! This is Managing Editor of Phones, Roland Moore-Colyer here to take you through some of the run up to today's Galaxy Unpacked.

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

Summary

This report covers the latest developments in samsung. The information presented highlights key changes and updates that are relevant to those following this topic.

---