Galaxy S26 series delay seems inevitable
The Galaxy S26 series of phones seem to be facing some hurdles, be it in terms of the lineup strategy, the alleged specifications, or the release timeline. It was recently reported that Samsung is going back to its original naming convention for the trio of phones and skipping the Galaxy S26 Edge altogether. Now, another leaker has pointed at a release delay.
Samsung typically announces its Galaxy S flagship series in January or early February. The Galaxy S20 series was announced in early February but the Galaxy S21 series was unveiled in January. The Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S23 series went back to an early February announcement but then the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S25 series was announced in January. It was expected that the Galaxy S26 series will be announced in January as well, but well known leaker Ice Universe has shared on Weibo (machine translated from Chinese) that the release has been postponed.
While the leaker states that the delay is confirmed, there is no mention of who or what the source is and to when it has been postponed. It could be a few weeks, still maintaining the February launch cycle, or it could head into March, as reported by a Greek website last week.
The reason for the delay is unclear, but there could be several. It looks like the company has made near last minute changes to its Galaxy S26 portfolio, going back to its original trio of phones. It is said that there will not be a Galaxy S26 Pro or a Galaxy S26 Edge, contrary to what was previously expected. One of the trio is said to feature the Exynos 2600 SoC instead of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, likely the Galaxy S26 Ultra. There were also reports of the Exynos 2600 being exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Pro, but that phone doesn’t exist anymore.
On the software side of things, Samsung has also been struggling with Android 16 based One UI 8 for its Galaxy S22, Galaxy S23, and Galaxy S24 series of phones. It pulled the update shortly after release without any clarification on why.
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