As of March 11, the Galaxy S26 series is in stores and in consumers’ hands. According to Samsung, preorders for the Galaxy S26 series are up when compared to the S25, which is a good sign (you can find some Galaxy S26 deals here). The Galaxy S26 Ultra is particularly popular, despite its hefty price tag. Now that reviews are out (stay tuned for our Ultra review coming soon) and users have had a chance to play around with the phones, we want to know what you think about the Galaxy S26’s latest features.
Not every feature is new, per se, but Samsung has made some notable upgrades to existing features that make them feel new. Of course, there are plenty of changes and additions to the Galaxy S26 series, so we’re focusing on the bigger ones you, as a consumer, will interact with.
Biggest features on the Galaxy S26 series
One of the biggest new features of the Galaxy S26 series is the Privacy Display, which has become a focus of Samsung’s marketing. The feature allows users to hide the contents of their display from onlookers by turning off pixels used to project light towards the sides of the display, while leaving those that project light forward on. This way, you can still see the contents of your screen.
Article continues below
It’s customizable, too, so you can set it only to turn on when you open certain apps or when notifications appear on your phone. That said, the display is unfortunately exclusive to the higher-end Galaxy S26 Ultra, but it’s an impressive piece of tech, nonetheless.
Gemini also got a huge upgrade on the Galaxy S26 series, thanks to screen automation. This allows the AI assistant to perform tasks on your behalf, opening apps and going through the motions to order an Uber or have food delivered. We recently tried Gemini screen automation ourselves, and despite some shortcomings and limited app support, it impressed us by ordering the correct drink or food options and stopping when you’re ready to check out.
You can also manually stop the process yourself if you need to make adjustments, or Gemini will pause the process if it needs additional information, such as the preferred size of the meal or drink.
The feature is rolling out on the Galaxy S26 series, but it will likely come to the Pixel 10 series soon.
Other notable new features on the Galaxy S26 include an upgraded Photo Assist, which lets you use natural language to tell the AI to fix a photo or add something from one image into another, like clothing. It works similarly to Help Me Edit on Google Photos, which is also available on the Galaxy S26 series if you’d rather do that.
Now Nudge is Samsung’s version of Google’s Magic Cue on the Pixel 10. This will use contextual information to surface relevant items, such as dates, phone numbers, and even photos, so that you don’t have to search for them yourself. It’s another way AI is becoming more proactive and helpful.
Speaking of AI, Bixby also got an upgrade. Now, you can speak to the AI assistant with more natural language, and it will help you navigate your phone to find or adjust features. For instance, if you tell it your eyes are tired from looking at the display, it might suggest toggling on the Eye Comfort shield feature.
But there are plenty of other new and upgraded features, such as Call Screening, Document Scan, Ocean Mode photography, a more capable DeX, an upgraded Audio Eraser, and much more. Let us know in the comments which Galaxy S26 feature you think is the coolest!
Discussion about this post