Samsung Galaxy S26 Redefines Itself as an "AI Phone" at Galaxy Unpacked 2026

Samsung Galaxy S26 Redefines Itself as an "AI Phone" at Galaxy Unpacked 2026

Samsung is making its most ambitious pitch yet for artificial intelligence at the heart of the smartphone experience. At Galaxy Unpacked 2026 on February 25, the company will unveil the Galaxy S26 series—and it's not shy about calling it something different: an "AI phone."

From Smartphone to AI Phone

If you've been following Samsung's marketing ahead of the February 25 event, the theme is unmistakable. The company has been running teaser videos that end with a telling animation: a circle draws around the word "smart" in "smartphone," the Galaxy AI logo flashes, and the text transforms into "AI phone."

That's the pitch. Samsung isn't just adding AI features to its flagship—it's trying to rebrand the entire category.

Agentic AI: The Next Frontier

Buried in Samsung's fourth-quarter earnings report in January was a line that signals the company's real ambition:

> "MX will expand sales centered on flagship products with the launch of Galaxy S26, and strengthen leadership in the AI smartphone market through an agentic AI experience."

The keyword is "agentic AI." Unlike the AI features we see today—Circle to Search, AI Eraser, Smart Suggestions—agentic AI aims to act on your behalf with a level of autonomy. Think: telling your phone to book a ride, and it handles the entire process without you touching the screen.

Early examples like OpenAI's Operator have shown promise but also limitations. Samsung is betting it can deliver a more polished experience by the time the S26 lands in consumers' hands.

New AI Editing Tools Spotted

Leaked details suggest the Galaxy S26 will introduce next-generation AI editing capabilities. The new "Transform photos with prompts" feature lets users edit images by simply typing what they want—similar to what we've seen from Google and Apple, but Samsung appears to be pushing the boundaries further.

The S26 Ultra is rumored to feature 16GB of RAM to handle these on-device AI tasks, along with a dual-chipset strategy: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for the US and China, and Exynos 2600 for global markets.

A Risky Bet?

Not everyone is convinced. Critics point out that Samsung's current AI features have delivered mixed results. Now Bar has improved since launch, and Circle to Search is genuinely useful—but Smart Suggestions and other features have drawn criticism for being irrelevant or half-baked.

The question becomes: can Samsung deliver on the promise of agentic AI, or is this rebrand ahead of the technology?

We'll find out on February 25 when Galaxy Unpacked goes live.

Sources

• •Android Police: Samsung says the Galaxy S26 isn't a smartphone
• •PhoneArena: Galaxy S26 Ultra upgrades
• •LatestLY: Galaxy S26 Launch February 25