This press conference detailed Samsung's advancements in Galaxy AI, focusing on its integration as a foundational infrastructure across their ecosystem, with a strong emphasis on reach, openness, and confidence. The event introduced the new Galaxy S26 series and Galaxy Buds 4 series, highlighting key features and the company's commitment to sustainability.
Introduction and Vision for Galaxy AI
TM Roh, CEO and Head of Device Experience Division, opened the conference by framing AI as a transformative technology evolving into essential infrastructure. He outlined Samsung's priorities for Galaxy AI:
- Reach: Expanding Galaxy AI across the entire ecosystem to be accessible through everyday devices.
- Openness: Ensuring AI experiences are effortless, seamless, and adaptable without a steep learning curve.
- Confidence: Building AI with advanced security and privacy features, leveraging the evolved Samsung Knox security platform to protect user data and provide control.
Roh also introduced the concept of agentic AI, envisioning a phone that anticipates needs, learns habits, adapts in real-time, and takes actions on behalf of the user.
Galaxy S26 Series Features
Rachel, a presenter, highlighted the practical applications of Galaxy AI within the Galaxy S26 series, emphasizing how it makes life more seamless and integrated into daily routines. Key features demonstrated included:
- Now Brief and Now Nudge: AI that summarizes daily overviews and provides timely reminders from notifications, even automatically adding events to the calendar.
- Call Summarization: AI can provide summaries of missed calls, allowing users to prioritize important ones.
- Enhanced Bixby: A smarter Bixby capable of conversational navigation and providing up-to-date information directly within chats without needing to switch apps.
- Ask AI with Perplexity: Integration with Perplexity in the Samsung browser to facilitate faster research by synthesizing information from multiple tabs and recent history.
- Circle to Search Enhancements: Building on the existing Circle to Search functionality, the S26 series allows for searching multiple objects at once, making it easier to find matching items for outfits or specific looks.
- Nudge in Chat: AI assistance within chat applications to reduce steps, such as automatically suggesting photos or checking calendar availability for meetups.
Wonjun Choi, COO, further elaborated on the underlying technology, introducing the Personal Data Engine (PDE) for transforming scattered data into usable AI information. He stressed the importance of trust with the introduction of Keep for data isolation and the physically secured Samsung Knox Vault for sensitive information. For cloud-based AI, the rule is data is processed for an answer and then deleted.
Samir, President of the Android ecosystem, discussed the partnership between Samsung and Google in evolving the Android platform into an intelligent system. He previewed an early version of Gemini's next evolution on the Galaxy S26 series, demonstrating how Gemini can interpret chat threads to autonomously build complex orders on delivery apps, such as for pizza night. This agentic AI capability, referred to as "getting stuff done," works in the background with user transparency and control.
Rachel returned to detail the hardware advancements in the Galaxy S26 series:
- Processor (AP): The Galaxy S26 Ultra features a 39% more powerful NPU for faster on-device AI and a 19% faster CPU for seamless multitasking.
- Gaming: The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy powers the most powerful gaming experience yet, with a 24% improved GPU and enhanced ray tracing for console-level performance.
- Thermal Management: The largest vapor chamber ever, combined with a redesigned internal structure and a new side 10, ensures efficient heat management.
- Battery Life: Optimized power consumption provides all-day battery life, up to 31 hours of video playback, and the fastest charging speeds, reaching 75% in 30 minutes.
- Display: Enhanced image processing for more subtle and natural colors, smoother gradients, and improved image scaling through an AI Enhanced Pro Scaler.
- Privacy Display: The world's first privacy display on mobile, engineered with a Black Matrix that narrows light from pixels to restrict viewing angles. This feature is customizable for specific apps or notifications, with a maximum privacy protection mode that further reduces readability from the side.
Miles Above Tech provided a hands-on demonstration of the Privacy Display, highlighting its practicality for on-the-go privacy.
Mason then discussed the camera advancements:
- ProVisual Engine and Galaxy AI: These power social media-ready photos and videos.
- Front Camera: An AI image signal processor enhances finer details for lifelike selfies.
- Rear Camera: A wider aperture captures more light for sharper, more vibrant images in all conditions.
- Low-Light Photography (Nightography): The advanced AP reduces grain and sharpens faces and details in low-light environments, as demonstrated by film director Monique Yvonne.
- Super Steady with Horizontal Lock: Ensures steady footage by maintaining a level horizon.
- APV Codec: First-time availability on the Galaxy S26 Ultra for advanced video recording with high bit rates and near lossless quality, supporting up to 8K recording and direct capture to external storage.
- Log Video: Built-in LUT presets and compatibility with editing tools like DaVinci Resolve and LumaFusion.
- AI Document Scanning: Automatically smooths wrinkles, folds, and removes fingers for clean scans, with easy PDF combination.
- Photo Assist: Enhances AI Eraser by allowing users to add elements that should have been there, merge subjects from different shots, and generate new wardrobes based on descriptions.
- Prompt-Based Editing: Enables practical everyday edits, such as restoring missing food items or generating outfit changes.
- AI-Generated Content Tagging: All AI-generated content is tagged for transparency.
- Animation Photos: Ability to transform photos into various artistic styles like watercolor, retro anime, or 3D.
- Creative Studio: A space for generating stickers, and collections for social media or wallpapers.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at $1,299, the S26 Plus at $1,099, and the S26 at $899. All models will be available starting March 11th, with pre-orders beginning immediately.
Galaxy Buds 4 Series
Cassie introduced the Galaxy Buds 4 series, featuring an iconic metal, premium blade design.
- Audio Experience: Delivers full-spectrum sound with controlled bass, distinct instruments, and balanced tonal quality. Features high-resolution playback with a new wider woofer and a dual amplifier architecture for deeper lows and refined highs.
- Samsung Seamless Codec: Optimizes data transmission for clear and smooth audio.
- Voice Clarity: Advanced deep neural network and super-wideband technology reduce background noise and enhance voice clarity during calls.
- Personalization: Customizable equalizer and adaptive sound that adjusts for consistent listening even with changing fit.
- Active Noise Cancellation (ANC): Generates opposing sound waves to cancel unwanted noise and automatically adjusts based on sound leakage.
- Comfort and Control: Computational design for a comfortable fit, and hands-free AI agent activation.
- Easy Setup and Access: Instant pairing and accessible Buds Panel in the Quick Panel.
- SmartThings Find: Allows users to locate misplaced Buds or charging cases.
The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro costs $249 and comes in white, black, and exclusive pink gold. The Galaxy Buds 4 costs $179 and comes in white and black. Both will be available on March 11th.
Commitment to Sustainability
Cassie also highlighted Samsung's commitment to sustainability, detailing their ongoing efforts and future goals:
- Recycled Materials: Expanded use of recycled materials, including plastics, glass, cobalt, and tantalum, in the Galaxy S26 series and across all Galaxy products.
- Water Management: Aiming to return more water to the environment than consumed, with projects to restore reservoirs in India and improve safe water access in Brazil.
- Biodiversity Conservation: Goal to conserve ecosystems equal in size to their global operational footprint through restoration projects.
- Coral Reef Restoration: Partnership with SeaTrees and Scripps Institution of Oceanography to support coral reef restoration, including the use of Ocean Mode on Galaxy cameras. Ocean Mode will be available through Expert RAW on the Galaxy S26 series.
Employees shared their contributions to sustainability, emphasizing recycled materials, mindful packaging, reduced standby energy, zero waste to landfill, water stewardship, and biodiversity conservation. The company outlined its 2030 goals to further deepen its commitment to the environment.
Conclusion
Wonjun Choi concluded the press conference by reiterating the excitement for the future of mobile AI and the vision for a true AI companion. He emphasized that groundbreaking technology becomes essential infrastructure, offering ease, convenience, and choice. Attendees were encouraged to try the new Galaxy S26 and Buds 4 series.