Samsung hopes this year's Galaxy S phones make AI exciting • The Register

Samsung is hoping its latest Galaxy S26 smartphones will finally convince users that AI features are worth getting excited about, after only 20 percent of Galaxy S25 Ultra buyers cited AI as their main reason for purchase. The Korean tech giant is betting on a mix of new hardware and software capabilities to change that narrative, though battery life remains the primary pain point for customers.

Privacy display and AI enhancements

The most intriguing addition to the S26 Ultra is a new "privacy display" that makes the screen unreadable from any angle except directly in front. This is achieved through a clever mix of narrow and wide pixels, with the latter being turned off to enable private viewing. Users can apply this privacy mode to specific areas of the screen or choose apps that implement it. Samsung hasn't ruled out providing APIs for developers to integrate this feature into their own applications, which could be particularly useful for businesses deploying custom apps in the field or banks looking to enhance security.

Beyond the privacy display, Samsung has packed the S26 lineup with AI-powered features aimed at both consumers and business users. The improved scanning app uses AI to automatically remove creases from paper documents while maintaining its optical character recognition capabilities. The personal organizer AI has been enhanced to provide contextual suggestions - if you have a meeting coming up, it might suggest summoning an Uber, or if a friend texts about catching up, it can propose meeting times based on your calendar.

Call screening and privacy alerts

One particularly useful feature is AI-powered call screening. Users can divert calls from unknown numbers to have them answered by AI, with the option to have it indicate you're in a meeting and have outsourced your response to the machine. Additionally, "Privacy Alerts" will inform users if apps attempt to access sensitive data like precise location, call logs, or contacts outside of obviously useful contexts.

Hardware considerations

Despite the focus on AI, battery life remains the main concern for Samsung customers. Only the base model Galaxy S26 receives a battery upgrade, gaining 300 mAh to reach 4,300 mAh. The S26 Ultra and S26+ must make do with faster charging capabilities instead. All three models feature gorgeously bright screens in slightly thinner and lighter packages than their predecessors.

Processor strategy

Samsung continues to signal its desire to use more of its own Exynos processors in its handsets, but supply constraints mean it doesn't have enough to power all S26+ and base model units. The S26 Ultra exclusively uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform for Galaxy, with its beefed-up NPU necessary to power some of the more demanding AI features. This processor will also ship in some of the lesser S26 range models.

Business features

Enterprise customers haven't been forgotten, with Samsung offering Enterprise editions of the handsets that now come with a three-year warranty, up from two years on last year's models. The company has also developed tools that provide "clearer visibility into firmware update status" to help with device fleet management.

Consumer-focused AI

For everyday users, Samsung has included plenty of AI features aimed at enhancing the smartphone experience. These include tools for tidying up photos - sometimes by adding imagined objects that Samsung thinks fit the scene - and a feature that locks video recordings horizontally even if users spin their phones. There's also a tool that analyzes screenshots and recommends where to buy any items depicted.

While Samsung's AI ambitions for the Galaxy S26 lineup are clear, whether these features will be enough to convince users to prioritize AI when choosing their next smartphone remains to be seen. The company faces the challenge of not only introducing innovative features but also demonstrating their practical value in everyday use.