IT·Science News

Galaxy S26 arrives with a Privacy Display and higher prices for the two cheaper models

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra at its Unpacked event in San Francisco on Wednesday 25 February, with prices up on the two cheaper models, the Associated Press reports via NY1. The S26 starts at $899 and the S26 Plus at $1,099, rises of 10% to 13%, while the Ultra stays at $1,299. The phones reach stores on 11 March. Samsung’s TM Roh called the S26 “the agentic AI phone”: it relies mainly on Google’s Gemini, with Perplexity added as an option.

The headline hardware is the Ultra’s Privacy Display, which makes the screen visible only head-on to guard against “shoulder surfing”. Korea’s Asia Economy, previewing the event, said Samsung spent more than five years developing it, and warned that rising chip and memory costs could push prices up. Nigeria’s TechCabal adds that every S26 model starts with 12GB of RAM to support on-device AI, and that 256GB is now the S26’s base storage.

“The rise in memory prices is the biggest concern.” — Roh Tae-moon, Samsung, at CES, via Asia Economy

How each outlet framed it

• AP — the price rise and the AI pitch, plus analyst Paolo Pescatore calling Privacy Display “the sleeper hit, a standout feature in a sea of AI noise”.
• Asia Economy — the home-market stakes: a feature aimed squarely at privacy screen protectors, with the S25 Ultra’s 1,698,400 won starting price as the benchmark.
• TechCabal — the African buyer: estimated Nigerian prices of about ₦1,705,000 for the Ultra, with local stock expected between April and May.

Where the numbers differ: AP lists the S26 at $899; TechCabal gives $899.99 and says it is up $100 from last year.