Samsung Galaxy S26 Launches with Gemini Agentic AI That Runs Apps Autonomously

Galaxy Unpacked 2026

On February 25, 2026, Samsung Electronics unveiled the Galaxy S26 series at Galaxy Unpacked 2026 in San Francisco. Pre-orders opened the same day, with a public launch scheduled for March 11. Samsung billed the S26 lineup as "the beginning of truly agentic AI" — a fundamental shift in how smartphones interact with users.

Gemini Agentic AI: From Assistant to Agent

The defining feature of the Galaxy S26 is Google Gemini's new agentic AI capability — the ability to autonomously operate third-party apps on a user's behalf. When a user asks Gemini to "book an Uber home," the assistant opens the Uber app, enters the destination, and completes the payment without further user input. This marks a significant leap from AI assistants that retrieve information to AI agents that take action.

Key AI Features

The S26 ships with a revamped AI ecosystem including Bixby, Gemini, and Perplexity as selectable assistants. Circle to Search gains the ability to search for multiple on-screen items simultaneously. Google's advanced Scam Detection now runs directly in Samsung's Phone app using on-device AI to identify suspicious calls in real time without sending data to the cloud.

Galaxy S26 Ultra's Privacy Display

The Galaxy S26 Ultra adds a built-in privacy display, allowing users to restrict viewing angles so only the holder can see the screen — a hardware privacy feature aimed at professionals and frequent public transit users.

Source: Samsung Newsroom | CNBC