Samsung Galaxy S26: The AI upgrades we know about and the ones we want the most

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Samsung's next flagship isn't just a phone — it's an AI powerhouse

An alleged official render of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
(Image credit: Evan Blass)

Samsung has officially unveiled its latest lineup of signature smartphones at its recent “Galaxy Unpacked” event. During the showcase, the company pulled back the curtain on the new Galaxy S26 series and shared a wave of updates to its evolving “Galaxy AI” software.

Leading up to the announcement, major leaks had already circulated, teasing everything from specs and pricing to design changes and potential release timing. Rumors also suggested that Galaxy AI would take center stage this year, with new support for third-party AI chatbots like Perplexity alongside continued integration with Gemini and Bixby.

Now that the event is behind us, it’s time to break down the biggest AI upgrades Samsung introduced with the Galaxy S26 — and the features we’re still hoping to see in future updates.

AI upgrades focus on smarter software, improved cameras and real-time voice translation

galaxy s26 renders galaxy ai logo next to unpacked text

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / Samsung / @Onleaks / @Androidheadline)

The Galaxy S26 is expected to launch with a new version of One UI 8 called One UI 8.5. And with that user interface update, a host of expanded Galaxy AI features are said to come with it.

A Twitter user named @chunvn8888 alluded to the debut of an AI notifications summary feature that will utilize Samsung’s Gauss AI model to give users a quick overview of all the app notifications they’ve received over 24 hours. This feature is said to be exclusive to the S26 at first, before eventually rolling out to other Galaxy smartphones (the S25 series, Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7, and more). What’s also cool about this AI-powered notifications tool is its usage of multiple languages at launch, such as English, Korean, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Polish, simplified Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Vietnamese and Thai.

AI is also said to be playing a part in how you edit your photos. An upgraded version of the “Photo Assist’ feature in the S26’s Gallery app will use AI to help you modify your photos via smart enhancements and creative edits without having to save multiple versions of the same pic. It seems like Samsung is betting big on AI as a way to improve communication flows on the S26 and future compatible devices.

According to Bloomberg, Samsung is close to finalizing a deal with Perplexity that will see the AI chatbot preinstalled as an app on the S26. This will result in Samsung’s default web browser using Perplexity’s search features and improving it as a whole. Rumors also point to Samsung and Perplexity discussing ways in which the AI company’s tech can improve Bixby (Samsung’s own virtual assistant).

On the generative image front, Sammobile reports that the S26 will offer users the chance to play around with that AI technology. Samsung is rumored to be partnering with a South Korean tech firm called Nota AI to co-develop a generative AI system called “EdgeFusion.”

The S26 may just become a creative hub for users who want to create custom images, wallpapers, photo edits, and other types of visual content in seconds.

The S26 could introduce more agentic AI features and clearer usage controls

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra concept

(Image credit: Technizo Concept / YouTube)

We have our fingers crossed for two hopeful announcements from Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event.

One of them is all about the implementation of agentic AI into the Galaxy S26—it’d be pretty cool to have a Samsung smartphone that can perform a bunch of actions without us having to command it. Those behaviors include the smartphone’s AI system automatically grouping your photos into custom folders, organizing your files, and generating replies for text messages and emails.

We’d also like to see the S26 AI features give its users transparency on how their information is being processed and why. Samsung should also emphasize users being able to turn off AI features if they’d rather live without them, and on-device AI learning that isn’t uploaded to some sort of cloud service that houses everyone’s important information. And beyond editing photos, we’d be excited to see the S26 also introduce AI-assisted video creation and editing tools at some point.

The takeaway

We’ll know everything about Samsung’s Galaxy S26 once the Galaxy Unpacked event comes to a close. For AI enthusiasts such as us, we’re hyped to see how Perplexity will strengthen the company’s AI systems and get a closer look at the rumored AI notifications summary and voice transcription tools.

Alongside those intriguing features, we’re hoping to see the sort of AI tech that makes your phone smarter while lessening its users’ workload and giving them the option to forgo using AI altogether.

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Elton Jones
Elton Jones
AI Writer

Elton Jones is a longtime tech writer with a penchant for producing pieces about video games, mobile devices, headsets and now AI. Since 2011, he has applied his knowledge of those topics to compose in-depth articles for the likes of The Christian Post, Complex, TechRadar, Heavy, ONE37pm and more. Alongside his skillset as a writer and editor, Elton has also lent his talents to the world of podcasting and on-camera interviews.

Elton's curiosities take him to every corner of the web to see what's trending and what's soon to be across the ever evolving technology landscape. With a newfound appreciation for all things AI, Elton hopes to make the most complicated subjects in that area easily understandable for the uninformed and those in the know.

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