Samsung's Galaxy S26 may arrive much later than we expected

Samsung is expected to unwrap the Galaxy S26 series early next year. However, there's still some uncertainty over the launch date of the flagship trio. Initially, a report suggested that the announcement had been delayed to February 25, 2026, which seemed understandable at the time, considering the last-minute decision to reverse the rumored rebranding.

Then, not much later, another report appeared to contradict this theory. It stated that Samsung would unwrap the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus, and the Galaxy S26 Ultra in late January, with general sales commencing in the middle of February. We now have another report from a South Korean media agency, hinting at a February launch event for the Galaxy S26 series.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Samsung "plans" to host its Unpacked event for the Galaxy S26 in San Jose, CA, in February. While no date is mentioned, the location and month align with what we learned from the initial leak.

A majority of the report focuses on Samsung's freshly announced Exynos 2600 chipset, which is expected to power the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ models in some regions. The top-of-the-line Galaxy S26 Ultra is likely to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC globally (via SammyGuru).

Samsung's latest Exynos chip takes a big leap

Samsung said the new 2nm chip will improve on-device AI functionalities, including image editing. The manufacturer is touting a 113% increase in generative AI performance over the Exynos 2500 with the new NPU (Neural Processing Unit), while a 39% uptick in CPU performance is mentioned.

Regardless of when the Galaxy S26 series is unveiled, expect a two-week pre-order period following the announcement. Assuming the initially leaked Galaxy S26 launch date of February 25 is accurate, customers would have to wait until the second week of March to get their hands on Samsung's early 2026 flagships.

It's not uncharacteristic of Samsung to launch its flagship in February. However, it will be the first time since the Galaxy S23 in February 2023 that the company will miss the January window. We don't yet have official information on what has led Samsung to push the release of the Galaxy S26 series by a few weeks, though the aforementioned rebranding may have played a role.

While a follow-up report suggested Samsung had handled those stumbles sufficiently to get the launch back on track for January, this new report contradicts that theory. Hopefully, we won't have to wait long to get a definitive answer on when Samsung plans to unleash its flagship smartphone series, ahead of what could be a tricky 2026 for smartphone brands.