Many conflicting reports about upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26; what is true?

He's late! No, it's still on time! Exynos only! No, it's coming with a Snapdragon chip! Big camera updates expected! Oh no it's not! What's going on with the coverage of the upcoming Galaxy S26 series? High time to calmly sum things up.

Those who have been following the news in recent weeks have been reading many conflicting stories about the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. First, the series would consist of an S26 Pro, S26 Edge and S26 Ultra, then the Pro model was swapped back for a regular model and the Edge disappeared for the Plus. Similar reports covered processor choices, launch timing and camera specs.

A few things seem to be in play this year. First, Samsung is in doubt about what to do. The Edge model is selling below expectations and then shareholders are starting to stir. Samsung is not immune to that either. Moreover, Samsung has been using a tactic for years that is best illustrated as someone throwing spaghetti against a wall and seeing what sticks. Those who don't try never discover what succeeds and what doesn't. And Samsung still sometimes tries things.

Many unknown new sources

The second thing that seems to be in play this year is the amount of "new sources," especially on X. The period before a launch, something is regularly leaked, and not everything is equally reliable. Especially an unproven source. Someone who wants short-term fame can find it on X. There are plenty of publications willing to take it up just to stay included in the news cycle.

Conscious distraction?

A third possibility, one for which we have no evidence and thus is purely speculative, is that Samsung is deliberately throwing sand in the wheels. How it normally goes is that analysts make predictions based on buys, then CAD renders pop up, followed by marketing material. In between are then snippets of specifications. Those CAD renders are out there, but who's to say they weren't deliberately distributed by Samsung to cause confusion. For example, the one for the S26 Edge?

What do we know?

The Galaxy S26 series is coming in early 2026. Samsung always aims for January/February and even a pandemi didn't change that, so why this year?

In terms of processor, Samsung prefers to bet on two horses; its own Exynos for the entry-level and Plus model, and the latest Snapdragon for the Ultra. Only when its own Exynos is not finished in time does it revert to a Snapdragon-only strategy. There are plenty of signs that the Exynos 2600 is finished and performing well so why would Samsung want to reinvent the wheel now? We therefore consider it very likely that we will find the Exynos 2600 in the entry-level and Plus models and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the S26 Ultra.

Evolutionary successor fits small differences

Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see until Samsung announces the series so we know what's true and what's not. However, from what we know so far, we expect the series to be an evolutionary successor to the S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra and not a revolutionary successor. And that just doesn't fit very big differences so we think much will remain the same.

Editor-in-Chief

As the founder of NewMobile, Martijn is responsible for the technical and strategic development of the platform. With a background in ICT, he developed the website independently from its inception in 2002 and continues to maintain it to this day.

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