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Samsung is preparing to launch the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+ and Galaxy S26 Ultra. This year’s Galaxy Unpacked launch event will not take place in the traditional mid- to late-January slot used by the Galaxy S23, S24, and S25 families. When can we expect the key milestones to occur before, during, and after the launch?
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra And A Rescheduled Galaxy Unpacked
Like most smartphone manufacturers, Samsung has a well-defined schedule for introducing a new phone to the public, anchored around the Galaxy Unpacked launch event. It was assumed that Samsung would launch three new handsets in late January 2026: the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the Galaxy S26 Edge, and the Galaxy S26 Pro. These would be the flagship Ultra, known and loved by many, a sophomore year for the fashionably thin Edge, and an upgunned entry-level Galaxy S that used the Pro suffix to go alongside higher specifications.
Alas, the reportedly weak sales of the Galaxy S25 Edge led to a new Edge falling out of contention. As for the S25 Pro, the retail success of the vanilla iPhone 17 and the fact that it retained the $799 price of the iPhone 16 led Samsung to keep the $799 price for its entry-level model. So the familiar trio of the S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra would take to the stage.
The understanding is that this reworking of the product mix pushed back the manufacturing timelines, which in turn has pushed back the launch date to a late-February slot.
Two noted voices in Samsung coverage, Evan Blass (@evleaks) and @IceUniversse, have both confirmed that the Galaxy Unpacked launch will take place in San Francisco on Wednesday, February 25. Last year’s event in New York started at 1 pm Eastern Time, 10 am Pacific Time. Starting at a similar time for the Galaxy S26 is a good bet.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Galaxy Unpacked Announcement
Before that, we’ll have the announcement of Galaxy Unpacked itself. Last year, Samsung announced the January 22 date on January 6, which was also the first day of CES. It’s unlikely that this date was chosen by chance… Samsung made sure it was part of the conversation around innovation and new technology.
The next significant event in the smartphone calendar is Mobile World Congress, which starts in Barcelona on March 2. Galaxy Unpacked is taking place less than a week before MWC, which will allow the South Korean company to dominate the conversation in the same way as it did over CES in 2025.
If Samsung maintains the same two-week lead time as in 2025, you can expect the Galaxy Unpacked invites to go out on the week of Monday, February 9.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Fourth Family Member
Samsung will likely launch a fourth Galaxy S26 smartphone in 2026, tentatively named the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE. The Fan Edition models are mid-range variants of the flagship smartphones that bring most of the same experience at a lower cost… think the Pixel 9a to the Pixel 9 Pro XL, or the iPhone 16e to the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
The Galaxy S25 FE was launched in September 2025, eight months after the launch of the rest of the Galaxy S25 lineup, and will remain in the lineup through the first half of 2026 as the affordable Galaxy S smartphone. Just like the aforementioned 9a and 16e, the S26 FE will arrive much later in the life cycle of its flagship.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Galaxy Pre-Order Offers
While the first three Galaxy S26 smartphones will not be immediately available for sale, Samsung has opened up pre-orders for its new phones immediately after the keynotes have ended – presumably to strike while the iron is hot for the countless viewers on the livestreams. Expect the same to happen with the Galaxy S26 family, with pre-orders opening on Feb. 22.
What may change are the pre-order offers. Samsung has typically offered a range of discounts, specification upgrades, and increased trade-in value. While the boosted trade-ins will no doubt still be there, one of the long-running bonuses might be in danger. Samsung’s popular ‘double storage’ offer allows consumers to buy the next storage size up from their purchase; if they pay for a 128 GB storage, they get the 256 GB version, 256 GB goes to 512 GB, and 512 GB goes to 1 TB. With both RAM and storage prices rising, this may be an offer too far.
Samsung is not expected to raise the sticker price on its handsets in the near future, and you would assume that it has hedged significantly on future silicon production, so there should be some slack in the system. Given that it also drives sales through Samsung’s website rather than through suppliers and retail stores, it may still make financial sense to go ahead with the storage
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Reviews
Between the Galaxy Unpacked event and the Galaxy S26 family going on general sale, you should expect the first batch of reviews to be published. In previous years, the first hardware reviews appeared on consumer tech sites and YouTube channels a week after the March 4 launch.
That date would clash with the end of Mobile World Congress and a raft of “Best In Show” press releases and coverage. It will be interesting to see if Samsung allows an embargo to run head-to-head with these stories, or to capture the day after and sweep up all the digital ink to focus on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the rest of the family.
Lifting the review embargo on the first day of MWC would be a bold move, but the precedent is there: last year’s Unpacked invites conflicted with CES’s opening.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Retail Sales
A two-week gap between a smartphone’s launch and retail release feels like the industry standard these days, with some companies adjusting the timing to fit corporate preferences. Samsung prefers Friday for retail releases, which would place the Galaxy S25 family in stores on Friday, March 6, for just under two weeks, or Friday, March 13, for just over two weeks.
Given the Galaxy Unpacked launch date has been pushed back to allow the S26 and S26+ to return, another week before retail release seems the better choice to build stock, assuming nobody is overly superstitious about launching the Galaxy S26 Ultra on Friday the Thirteenth.
