Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus Officially Launched, First with 2nm Chip
SAN FRANCISCO, KOMPAS.com - The Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus have been officially launched globally at the Galaxy Unpacked event held at the Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, United States on Wednesday (25/2/2026) or Thursday (26/2/2026) early morning WIB. Both phones were released alongside the Galaxy S26 Ultra and are part of the Galaxy S26 series.
KOMPAS.com journalist Lely Maulida is covering the launch of the Samsung S26 Series trio live in San Francisco.
“We present the Samsung Galaxy S26 Series, our Agentic AI phone,” said CEO & Head of Device Experience Samsung, TM Roh, on stage at the launch event.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus are generally powered by Samsung’s new chipset, the Exynos 2600.
This is a chipset that was recently announced in December 2025 and is designed with 2 nanometer (nm) fabrication, making it the first chipset with that fabrication.
According to Samsung, the chip promises an almost 40 percent increase in processing power for the CPU, GPU, and NPU.
In addition to performance, the chip is also claimed to support improved photo quality in low-light conditions and reduce noise.
This is because the ISP on this chipset has an AI-based Visual Perception System that enables more accurate scene and object recognition.
In addition to the Exynos 2600, the Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus for some markets are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, like the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Although different, both chips are paired with the same RAM and storage configuration, namely 12/256 GB and 12/512 GB. There is no longer a 128 GB storage option like the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus that were released in early 2025.
The appearance of both phones is also made identical, bringing a new back design, especially in terms of the rear camera frame of the phone.
The camera housing is now designed to be more minimalist, as it is equipped with a capsule-shaped frame that matches the color of the phone’s body.
This concept makes it different from the Galaxy S25 series which does not have a capsule-shaped frame, so the lens seems to be directly embedded in the body.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 comes with a slightly larger screen, measuring 6.3 inches from its predecessor’s 6.2 inches.
Not only the screen, Samsung has also increased the battery capacity of this phone to 4,300 mAh compared to its predecessor’s 4,000 mAh.
Due to this increase, the body of the Galaxy S26 is slightly heavier, weighing 167 grams, from its predecessor’s 162 grams.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus have the same camera specifications. It consists of a 50 MP (f/1.8) main camera with OIS and 2x optical zoom, a 10 MP (f/2.4) telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 12 MP (f/2.2) ultrawide camera.