Hardly anybody bought Samsung's last smartphones for AI. It hopes this year's models change that

But only Qualcomm can power the most alluring features

hands on Just 20 percent of punters who bought Samsung's 2025 flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, cited AI as the main reason for their purchase. With this year's S26 models, the Korean giant hopes to improve that number.

The company also told The Register that customers' main "pain point" isn't AI performance – it's battery life. Yet only the base model Galaxy S26 gets a bigger battery than last year's model, up 300 mAh to 4,300 mAh. The other two models, the S26 Ultra and S26+, must make do with faster charging.

The Register last week handled all three models and can report they follow the familiar template for premium smartphones by incorporating gorgeously bright screens into small packages that are a little thinner and lighter than last year's efforts.

The S26 Ultra gets the most interesting addition, a "privacy display" that renders the screen impossible to read except from directly in front. Samsung told us this is possible because the phone's display uses a mix of narrow and wide pixels, and turning off the latter enables private viewing.

It's possible to apply privacy mode to whatever area of the screen you desire, or to choose apps that implement it. The Register suggested developers might appreciate an API that enables privacy display in apps, so businesses can deploy custom apps into the field with a little more confidence, or banks could suggest it to enhance security.

Samsung execs could not confirm this will be possible, but did not rule it out, noting that the company has published APIs and developer documentation after device launches in the past.

Another new addition also has privacy implications. An improved scanning app uses AI to automagically remove creases on paper and retains its ability to perform optical character recognition.

Samsung has improved the AI it offers as a personal organizer. We're told that if you consult your calendar and the phone sees you have a meeting in the near future, it might suggest you summon an Uber. Or if a friend texts to suggest catching up on Tuesday, the phone can consult your calendar and propose a time.

AI will also screen calls from unknown numbers by speaking to the caller. Users can divert a call to have it answered by AI, and with a few taps, have it indicate they're in a meeting and have outsourced their response to the machine. Additionally, we're told AI powers "Privacy Alerts" that inform users if apps attempt to access sensitive data, such as precise location, call logs, or contacts, beyond obviously useful contexts.

Plenty of the new AI features are aimed squarely at consumers, to do things like tidy up photos – in some cases by adding imagined objects that Samsung thinks fit the scene – or lock video recordings horizontally even if users spin their phones. There's also a tool that analyses screenshots and then recommends where to buy any items depicted.

Business buyers haven't been forgotten, as Samsung will again offer Enterprise editions of the handsets, which now come with a three-year warranty – one more than offered with last year's models. We're told Samsung has tools that offer "clearer visibility into firmware update status" to help with device fleet management.

Samsung has signaled it wants to use more of its own Exynos processors in its handsets, but it hasn't got enough of them to power all S26+ and S26 base model units. A Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy is present in all S26 Ultra units, with its beefed-up NPU necessary to power some features. It will also ship in some of the lesser S26 range. ®