In summary
- Galaxy S26 series could launch on 25 February 2026
- Would be a significant delay compared to S25 and S24 series
- Likely due to lineup changes, but these may not materialise
For me, January represents a few things. New beginnings, cost-cutting, miserably short days…and the launch of Samsung’s new flagship phones.
Okay, so that last one might only apply to me and the rest of the tech-obsessed phone community, but I enjoy the consistency of a major Galaxy Unpacked event to kick off the year.
However, it looks like that won’t be the case in 2026, with multiple reports suggesting that Samsung will delay the launch of its upcoming Galaxy S26 series.
No date was initially revealed, leaving tech journalists and smartphone fans alike in limbo. How late could the Galaxy S26 launch really be, and would it overlap with the busier spring launch season?
Luke Baker
Fortunately, it appears not. According to Korean newspaper Money Today, the Galaxy S26 series will launch at a Galaxy Unpacked event in San Francisco on 25 February 2026.
If true, that would be significantly later than the Galaxy S25 series, which launched on 22 January 2025, and the Galaxy S24 series, which debuted on 31 January 2024.
It’s also very close to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026 on 2-5 March, where Samsung hasn’t launched a flagship phone since the Galaxy S5 in 2014. That almost certainly won’t change with the Galaxy S26 series, but it will mean Samsung is directly competing with handsets which do, and the Xiaomi 17 series could be among them.
Why the Samsung Galaxy S26 series looks set to be delayed
With so many conflicting reports, it’s still unclear at this stage what the Galaxy S26 series lineup will look like.
Early leaks suggested that the base model would be replaced with a Galaxy S26 Pro, while the Plus phone would be ditched in favour of the ultra-slim Galaxy S26 Edge. In its report, Money Today suggests that this adjustment would be the main reason for the delay.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
However, supposedly poor sales of the S25 Edge have supposedly forced Samsung to act. The latest thinking is that it will stick with an identical lineup to the Galaxy S25 series – regular, Plus and Ultra – with the S26 Edge cancelled outright rather than released later in the year.
If that were true, the weeks of delays would be for no good reason. If the rumoured minor hardware upgrades also materialise, it’d be an underwhelming launch that could be overshadowed by announcements at MWC.
Let’s hope the rumours are wrong and that Samsung has some tricks up its sleeve in its attempts to make some of the best phones of 2026.
