Samsung is doubling down on artificial intelligence with its new Galaxy S26 smartphone lineup, positioning itself ahead of Apple in the AI arms race. The Android-powered Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra, available for preorder February 25, feature enhanced AI capabilities powered by Samsung's Galaxy AI and Google's Gemini.

While the smartphone market grows steadily rather than explosively, Samsung is betting that AI features will drive upgrades. The new lineup includes agentic capabilities like having Gemini order DoorDash meals or book Uber rides, plus contextual features like Now Nudge for calendar management. Samsung is also integrating Perplexity's AI as an alternative assistant, marking a shift from Apple's walled-garden approach.

Hardware upgrades include Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, 12GB of memory, and camera improvements with three rear cameras on the S26 and S26+ and four on the Ultra. Pricing starts at $799 for the S26, $1,099 for the S26+, and $1,299 for the Ultra. Samsung president Wonjin Lee has warned about potential price hikes due to memory chip shortages from the global AI data center build-out, signaling broader industry challenges.