It’s that time again – Samsung have launched their new smartphones for the coming year, and while you could make an argument that this is evolution over revolution there are some updates contained within this refresh that will be of interest to business users.
The updated range
So – first and foremost, what are the new phones? There are three new offerings: the S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra.
The S26 gains a small amount of screen size this year going from 6.2” to 6.3” while the Plus and Ultra remain the same at 6.7” and 6.9” respectively. Other than that, the physical changes this year come down to making the series more cohesive in how they appear so keen observers will note that all three now look much more like other than they ever have before. In practice this means the S26 Ultra looks slightly less boxy than its S25 equivalent and the visual differences between all three are greatly reduced.
The processors are all faster than the previous versions, but what’s been particularly focussed on with these latest updates are the neural processing units (NPUs) which mean the phones are more optimised for AI than they have ever been before.
These changes do feel more like incremental steps designed to keep the phones relevant in the market, but the next feature is a genuine world first.
Privacy display
The S26 Ultra comes with a built-in privacy display. This is a hardware change whereby the screen comes with the built-in ability to restrict viewing angles, but it’s controlled and configurable by the onboard software.
So, if you only want the privacy display active at work – then that’s fine. Or if it’s only for certain apps or notifications, that’s fine too. This feature can be turned off or on at leisure and activated automatically should you so desire, so it’s a real game changer for privacy focussed organisations. No longer do you need to fear that stranger next to you on the train reading your emails over your shoulder – just activate the privacy display and crack on.
Now, admittedly you can buy a third-party screen cover to place over any existing phone and achieve a similar result, but it’s the built-in and easily changeable nature of Samsung’s display that makes this such a game changer.
AI
As with literally everything else launched anywhere in the world over the past 4 years, Samsung made a big play on AI during its announcement. But in this instance – they really are trying to make progress with these new handsets.
How many of you have tried to use AI on your phone and found the speed it comes back is slowed by the data connection? Well, the new processors mean that each model has increased it’s NPU processing speed by at least 38%. This sounds really boring in and of itself, but Samsung say that this means AI features can run locally and instantly, greatly reducing the delays you can see when using it. Now we’re all more interested.
In terms of onboard AI features, the new range comes with Now Nudge and Now Brief which are constantly running AI processes in the background designed to make it easier than ever for you to take advantage of them.
How? Well, if you’re texting a friend and promise to send pictures from a trip – your phone can now proactively prompt you to do that and surface the photos ready for sending. Or if it knows you get a particular train at roughly the same time each week, it can bring up train times for you. The future is coming!
One feature that may make many corporate IT departments happy is that these new phones allow you to select the AI engine you use to run in the background switching between Gemini and Perplexity simply at the change of a setting. So, you can change to select the one which is most compatible with your businesses IT policies.
We can already hear CTOs everywhere breathe a little easier.
Document scanner
Another AI feature which will excite anybody who has tried to scan a receipt for an expense claim through a phone is the built-in intelligent document scanner. This allows you to take a picture of a document with your phone and can then clean them up by removing corner folds, fingers, distortions – basically all the normal things that happen when you take a picture of a receipt.
Finance departments everywhere are now pushing for their road-based colleagues to have Samsung phones.
7 years of updates
Since 2024 and the launch of the S24, Samsung have guaranteed that they will continue to support their phones with OS and security updates for at least 8 years. In fact, they have stated that they do not design their updates to slow down the device, so you can rest assured that so long as you look after your device it will continue to stay relevant and up to date for years and years and years and years to come.
This makes Samsung devices perfect for organisations that like to sweat their assets and get the most out of their investments.
When is it arriving?
The S26 range is available for pre-order from now and will be available from 11th March 2026.
Interested in upgrading?
Aerial Direct can help your business get their hands on the newest phones – whether you are an existing customer or not. Simply fill in the form below and a member of our team will be in touch.
Simply want to find out more?
If you’d like to find out more about the range before expressing your interest, then feel free to explore more on the official Samsung website.