Samsung Galaxy S26 might skip camera hardware upgrades – but it's all about the AI, it says

Samsung is in full hype mode ahead of the launch of the Galaxy S26 devices on 25 February. With just a week to go, it is teasing how the camera experience will move forward.

Thanks to a number of leaks, we've learnt that there aren't going to be substantial hardware changes to the camera. In fact, much of the camera hardware has been static over the past couple of generations. Instead, says Samsung, it all comes down to the AI.

Samsung's overriding message about the Galaxy S26 seems to be that this isn't a smartphone, it's an AI phone. It's a slightly risky strategy as it continues to push AI features above and beyond everyday smartphone experiences.

In the latest tease, Samsung tells us to prepare for "the brightest Galaxy camera system ever", which might hint at the rumoured move to an f/1.4 aperture on the main cam. Equally, "bright" might refer to intelligence, so perhaps there's a little bit of double meaning there.

Samsung promises "a seamless experience and a more fluid creative process". Some of the elements that it suggests sound familiar, like "turning a photo from day to night in seconds", "restoring missing parts of objects in images", and "eamlessly merging multiple photos into one cohesive image".

Galaxy AI | What's next?: Cupcake | Samsung - YouTube

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While these are highlighted, they are all features that Google Photos has offered for a number of years, so at first glance, it doesn't sound too revolutionary.

We're told that "mobile cameras are moving beyond capture", a nod to AI generation, on which the jury is still out. Samsung rightfully points out that in fairly recent history, you'd have to use something like Photoshop on a laptop to make changes, but editing and image manipulation is now much easier thanks to AI.

Galaxy AI | What's next?: Spaceship | Samsung - YouTube

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Samsung also points to multimodal input, which is where you can draw or use text to add to or adapt images. This is clever, merging pictures you've taken with a little AI flair.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 family is expected to consist of the S26, S26 Plus and S26 Ultra, with minor tweaks to the design, new hardware – with both Snapdragon and Exynos models expected – and a couple of new features, like Privacy Display.

But it feels like Samsung's focus is going to be on enhancing the software experience with more AI features. Those hoping for larger battery capacities might be disappointed, but faster charging speeds are promised.

All the details will be revealed during Galaxy Unpacked on 25 February and T3 will be there to report back live.