Samsung just confirmed the Galaxy S26’s most important upgrade – it’s not the processor, nor AI
The Galaxy S26 will feature new cameras, Samsung has revealed. That's way more exciting than a new processor or more AI
The Samsung Galaxy S26 smartphone range will feature new camera sensors, the company has confirmed. During its earnings call this week, the company revealed many of the details about the next generation flagship including to the camera optics.
The word comes from Daniel Araujo, the vice president of Samsung’s mobile experience division, who also confirmed plenty of other things about the next set of smartphones.
However, the presence of new camera sensors is important given Samsung hasn’t exactly been on the ball with updating the sensors of its mainline models in recent years. The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25+ had exactly the same three rear cameras as their predecessors. The ultrawide camera did get an upgrade from a 12-megapixel to a 50-megapixel sensor. However, in the main, it was as you were.
The new camera sensors for this year’s models are probably going to be the most exciting element of the new phones overall. Araujo also said the S26 phones due early next year will “revolutionise the user experience with user-centric, next-gen AI, a second-generation custom AP, and stronger performance, including new camera sensors” (via Android Authority).
The next-gen AI is probably going to be a bit blah for hardware fans, with most of the features trickling down to the S25 range through One UI updates next year. The new AP might refer to the rumoured Exynos 2600 chipset, which Samsung has made on a 2nm process. The company is planning to use different chips in different territories, according to recent rumours. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 will likely be doing the heavy lifting in the US.
Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy S26 series of phones in the first couple of months of 2026 – perhaps around the time of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.
Chris Smith
