Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Ewan Spence

2026’s smartphone calendar has the pivotal Mobile World Congress event running from March 2 to March 4. Countless manufacturers will debut new smartphones around the event. Samsung will be one exception, as it looks to launch earlier than the Barcelona parties. Why is it essential for the Galaxy S26 Ultra to be first out of the gate in 2026?

The Galaxy S26 Ultra Can Explain Its Own Path

The most significant advantage for Samsung is that Galaxy Unpacked is a standalone event. Unlike MWC, where launches and moments are stacked throughout Barcelona, Galaxy Unpacked is 100 percent Samsung. Not only that, but given Samsung’s size and the appreciation that the Galaxy S26 family are the elephants in the room, other manufacturers will actively go out of their way to avoid clashing with the South Korean company.

The knock-on effect of that is there’s no other consumer tech news, giving Samsung a clear run when pitching the new hardware and software to journalists around the world. When you have a raft of new products with complexity beneath the clean UI, you rely on stories from the event to explain the latest ‘invisible’ magic running in the background.

With others dodging the date, expect Galaxy Unpacked to dominate tech headlines in the days before, during, and after a launch early in the annual cycle.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra Exclusives

Previous Galaxy Unpacked events have first launched and then upgraded Galaxy AI, Samsung’s artificial intelligence toolset. At the 2024 Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung launched Galaxy AI with Google’s Circle To Search feature. It was exclusive to Samsung for several months before Google opened it up to the broader audience. But for the months after the launch of the Galaxy S25 family, and during MWC and the subsequent launches by other manufacturers, Circle To Search remained a massive point of differentiation in the market.

A unique feature, a window of exclusivity, and the opportunity to have it explained in depth across the press? What’s not to love about going early?

The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Competitive Advantage

Ultimately, it has been Google that gets to ‘go first’ with new Android features, specifically with the Pixel series. Galaxy AI may have debuted at Galaxy Unpacked in 2024, but in Oct. 2023, Google announced the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, labelling them the first AI smartphones.

Part of that saw AI services added to Android for all manufacturers to use, but Samsung was the first major consumer brand to step up and push AI heavily with the Galaxy S24 family. The company laid out a path that tracked Google to begin with (including the aforementioned Circle To Search exclusive) but also introduced Samsung’s own features, which have been steadily improved over the last two years.

Samsung set out to define what an AI smartphone would mean for the general audience. Any other AI-focused smartphone would be drawn into direct comparison with the Galaxy range, and with a lead in promotion and execution, the Galaxy was the yardstick. Samsung’s yardstick.

The same was true in 2025; Google opened the door with the Pixel 9, and Samsung roared through it with the Galaxy S25 trio. It screamed “this is the way forward”, and the smartphone world, once more, followed.

The Galaxy S26 Ultra’s First Mover Advantage

As we look towards 2026, Google has already made its key move for this generation with the headline inclusion of MagicCue, an agentic AI service that will proactively surface information from a phone’s content to support the user. When someone messages to ask where you are meeting later that day, MagicCue can find the restaurant reservation and add that into a draft reply, along with supporting information such as the address.

Last year, Samsung brought Now Brief and the Now Bar to the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy AI. This pulls in information from your phone, as well as external sources (such as weather or sports results) to offer relevant information throughout the day.

If Samsung were to make a big play with an extension to Now Brief that adds more AI smarts, more data, and more local processing, it would not only complement Google’s MagicCue approach but also mark it out as the feature to have.

It may not be this exact feature, but whatever it is, if the competition at MWC is running similar ideals, they’ll confirm Samsung as the leader in the space (at least to consumers). If the competition is looking elsewhere, there will be a point of differentiation, and Samsung will have had more time to establish its choice as the ‘correct’ one.

The exact date of the next Galaxy Unpacked is not yet confirmed. There is an air of expectation that it will be in late January, as opposed to a mid-February, that was being discussed in the fall. Whichever of those dates it takes, Samsung will still be ahead of MWC, which starts on March 2 2026, and will still have the first-mover advantage.

Now read the latest Android headlines, including the Galaxy S26 Ultra, in Forbes’ weekly smartphone news digest…

Updated Dec 6 with further details of the software and its release date.

Did you upgrade your iPhone to iOS 26 yet? It’s available for all models from the iPhone 11 onwards. But until now, Apple has also readied a version of last year’s iOS 18 so that users reluctant to move to the new OS just yet can stay protected. It looks like that’s just ended and new evidence suggests that the next iOS 26 update is now only days away. Since there have been numerous reports that the software was delayed, it will surprise many that it might actually be early, after all.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

AFP via Getty Images

“Apple is encouraging iPhone users who are still running iOS 18 to upgrade to iOS 26 by making the ‌iOS 26‌ software upgrade option more prominent,” MacRumors reports.

ForbesiOS 26.2 Release Date: What To Expect And When From The Next Critical iPhone UpdateBy David Phelan

Until this week, iOS 18 updates have been the default choice, with iOS 26 offered further down the page in Settings.

“Starting today, that’s changing. iOS 18 users who have not upgraded to ‌iOS 26‌ will now see iOS 26.1 as the recommended iOS update in the Settings app. iOS 18 updates are still an option, but are now displayed at the bottom of the app,” the report goes on.

While that’s not the same as forcing users to move to iOS 26, the writing is clearly on the wall.

Each iOS 26 update has been accompanied by one for iOS 18, so far. However, while the first two of these were released pretty much at the same time, the latest iOS 18 option, 18.7.2, came several days later, perhaps as a way for Apple to quietly nudge people to iOS 26.

While this doesn’t mean that there won’t be an iOS 18.7.3 release soon after iOS 26.2 goes live later this month (read this for exactly when that will be), it wouldn’t surprise me if iOS 26.2 is the only option offered.

And there’s now further evidence that iOS 26.2 is almost here: on Wednesday, Dec. 3, Apple launched the release candidate of iOS 26.2 to developers, indicating the schedule is still in place for general release on Monday, Dec. 15 or Tuesday, Dec. 16.

It also means that it’s just possible that iOS 26.2 could come earlier. I had written off Monday, Dec. 8 and Tuesday, Dec. 9, but as the release candidate arrived so soon after the week of Thanksgiving, I’d say that one of those days is possible, alongside Wednesday, Dec. 10 — which I now believe to be the most likely date.

Other commentators have come to their own conclusions, but all are in the same ball park. “Apple normally releases its x.2 updates during the second week of December, and this year seems to follow the same pattern. So users can expect the update between 8 December and 10 December, unless there is a revised RC build that delays things a little,” MSN said while Britta O’Boyle at T3 agreed that it could come “as soon as next week.”

Geeky Gadgets said “Apple has confirmed that the general rollout will occur on Dec. 8, giving users worldwide access to the new features and improvements,” though it’s not clear to me that Apple has made this confirmation or where the site is sourcing this.

And I suspect it will be the week beginning Dec. 8 rather than necessarily the day itself — though that would certainly surprise the analysts who have banked on the release being delayed.

“Looking ahead, Apple plans to release the iOS 26.3 beta during the week of Dec. 15,” the site went on, which seems likely to me.

Apple’s move to encourage people to iOS 26 now suggests to me that the iOS 18 option at the bottom of the page is likely to disappear soon.

Of course, there will be iOS 18 security updates coming in the future, but they may only be offered to users of the three phones which can run iOS 18 but not iOS 26, that is, the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR. Owners of the latest models, iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone Air, have no choice in the matter: iOS 26 came pre-installed.

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Updated Dec. 6 with more details of release date and pricing, panel thicknesses and comparisons to other thin and folding phones.

The next Samsung smartphone has been revealed. The Galaxy Z TriFold is a folding phone with two hinges so its internal screen opens out to be the size of a 10-inch tablet. Here’s when it will arrive and how much it’ll cost, plus details of why it’s different from other rival folding and super-thin phones. Oh, and whether TriFold is the right name.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold

Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold Release Date: Friday, Dec. 12

That’s the date that the new phone will go on sale. But there’s a catch: it’s in South Korea only, where it will be available to view from Dec. 9 in 20 stores.

ForbesiPhone 18: How Apple’s 2025 Releases Reveal The Secrets Of The Next iPhonesBy David Phelan

It will be available more widely, but no date has yet been attached. “Samsung Electronics will launch the ‘Galaxy Z Trifold’ in Korea on the 12th and then launch it sequentially to global markets such as China, Taiwan, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States,” Samsung said in a newsroom post.

No exact date yet, then, though I’d be astonished if it was before 2026. A report from Bloomberg comments that it will ship in very limited volume.

And a more recent update from Tom’s Guide claimed that while no actual date has been set, there is at least a clue. “As for the U.S., Samsung says it’ll be coming sometime in Q1 2026,” it reported.

“Given that January or February could also see the next Galaxy Unpacked event for the Galaxy S26 series, it’ll be interesting to see if Samsung will wait to release the TriFold later in Q1, just to make room in between releases,” it went on.

Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold Price

“ ‘Galaxy Z Trifold’ is released as a single model of ‘Crafted Black’ color in 512GB storage with 16GB memory, and the price is 3,594,000 won,” Samsung said, which is around $2,450.

That’s not cheap, but there’s a lot in the box, it seems. “The ‘Galaxy Z Trifold’ package includes ‘Carbon Shield Case’, ’45W Fast Charger’, and ‘Data Cable’ as basic components,” Samsung added.

It’s worth adding that the U.S. price is not expected to be an exact translation of the Korean price and there have been rumors that the price could be as high as $2,999. We’ll see. I suspect Samsung will pick a price that’s high, to confirm this is a premium product, but not impossible.

As to what else to expect from the phone, there are neat details in the Bloomberg report. “At its thinnest point, the TriFold measures 3.9 millimeters (0.15 inch). Inside, it contains a 5,600 milliamp-hour battery, marking the largest capacity that Samsung has used in a folding phone so far. The battery provides as much as 17 hours of consecutive video playback with the TriFold display fully open,” it reads. You can also read details about the phone on Prakhar Khanna’s post here on Forbes.

The phone will close by folding left and right parts in to the middle — so not a Z shape at all. Mind you, two folds doesn’t sound like “trifold” to me either. I fear it’s too late for sensible minds to get hold of this and rename phones with two folds as Bifold, but the name is irksome, to say the least, or am I just being pedantic?

“In a brief hands-on session, the TriFold was intuitive to use. If the user begins to fold it incorrectly — by closing the right side before the left, for instance — the phone quickly warns them with on-screen notifications and physical vibrations,” Bloomberg comments.

More than that, we know that the Galaxy Z TriFold will have three cameras, matching the Galaxy Z Fold7, meaning the new phone will include a 200MP main camera.

And it will be the first major competition to Huawei’s Mate XT — which does fold in the shape of a Z so perhaps has a better claim to the name, or am I being pedantic again? Huawei’s phone is fractionally thinner when folded, measuring 12.8mm against Samsung’s 12.9mm.

But Samsung’s phone pulls off an interesting trick. Although it’s thicker than the Z Fold7 (which only folds once, not twice) which is 8.9mm when folded, it’s only a little thicker than last year’s Z Fold6 which was 12.1mm when closed. To add an extra fold but less than a millimeter of thickness in total is noteworthy.

It seems that the Z Trifold will also lack something the Z Fold6 had, which is compatibility with the S Pen stylus. The Z Fold7 doesn’t support the S Pen either, so this may not be a surprise.

The three panels on the TriFold (so, should that be called TriPanel? Okay, I’ll get off the pedantic tip now) are all different thicknesses. The thinnest is 3.9mm thick, the central one is 4.2mm and the third is 4mm.

The thinnest has a physical SIM card slot, which is interesting because the iPhone Air does not, and it’s thicker. Reports suggest the predicted iPhone Fold will not find room for a SIM card tray either.

Samsung has also said that the fold is robust and that the phone undergoes a lot of testing, specifically “a 200,000-cycle multi-folding test, equivalent to folding the device approximately 100 times a day for five years.”.

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