Source TOI
SAN FRANCISCO – At its highly anticipated Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event, Samsung Electronics officially unveiled the Galaxy S26 series, signaling a pivot toward what CEO TM Roh calls the “Agentic AI” era. While the headlines leading up to the event focused on a new partnership with AI search engine Perplexity, the launch confirmed that Google Gemini remains the bedrock of the device’s most advanced automation features.
The new lineup—comprising the Galaxy S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra—introduces a multi-agent ecosystem that allows users to toggle between three distinct AI powerhouses: Samsung’s revamped Bixby, Google Gemini, and Perplexity.
The Rise of the AI Agent
Samsung is moving away from the “single assistant” model. Instead, the Galaxy S26 acts as an orchestrator, routing tasks to the AI best suited for the job:
Google Gemini (The Doer): Gemini 3 handles “agentic” tasks. It can now execute multi-step workflows in the background, such as booking an Uber, reordering groceries, or summarizing YouTube videos directly into Samsung Notes.
Perplexity (The Researcher): Integrated at the system level via the Sonar API, Perplexity becomes the default for real-time web intelligence. Users can trigger it with the new “Hey Plex” wake word to get cited, real-time answers without opening a browser.
Revamped Bixby (The Controller): Bixby remains the specialist for on-device hardware control and deep integration within the Samsung ecosystem, now featuring more natural language processing for device settings.
New “Gemini-First” Features
Despite the Perplexity buzz, Google’s presence is more dominant than ever. The S26 series debuts several exclusive Gemini-powered tools:
Multi-Object Circle to Search: An evolution of the popular feature that allows users to circle an entire outfit and receive simultaneous search results for the hat, shirt, and shoes in one go.
On-Device Scam Detection: Using a local Gemini model, the phone monitors live calls for suspicious language patterns, alerting the user with haptic feedback if a potential scam is detected.
Now Nudge: A proactive feature that suggests actions based on conversation context—for example, automatically surfacing relevant travel photos when a friend asks about a recent trip.
Hardware and Availability
The Galaxy S26 Ultra remains the crown jewel, featuring a new 7.9mm slim profile and a “Privacy Display” designed to prevent shoulder-surfing. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which boasts a 39% improvement in NPU performance specifically to handle these persistent AI agents.
Feature Galaxy S26 Ultra Galaxy S26+ Galaxy S26
Display 6.9-inch AMOLED 6.7-inch AMOLED 6.3-inch AMOLED
Processor Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Exynos 2600 / Snapdragon Exynos 2600 / Snapdragon
Main Camera 200MP (f/1.4) 50MP 50MP
AI Agents Gemini, Perplexity, Bixby Gemini, Perplexity, Bixby
The Galaxy S26 series is available for pre-order starting today, with devices expected to ship on March 11, 2026.
