Samsung’s about to launch the Galaxy S26 series, but if recent leaks hold up, it might already be obsolete by fall.
Analyst Jeff Pu has shared specifications for Apple’s late-2026 lineup, and the iPhone 18 Pro series looks like a genuine leap forward. Meanwhile, Samsung appears stuck in incremental update mode, barely touching its flagship hardware even as competition heats up.
Apple’s planning three devices for September: the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and its first foldable, tentatively called the iPhone Fold. All three will reportedly run the A20 Pro chip built on a 2nm process, pack 12GB of RAM, and feature an upgraded 18MP front camera. The foldable gets two of those cameras, one for each display.
The standout feature is a restructured Face ID system. According to YouTuber Jon Prosser, Apple’s moving to an under-display sensor positioned on the left side, with the front camera shifted to match. That change should allow Apple to shrink the Dynamic Island considerably while keeping its core functionality intact. The iPhone Fold ditches Face ID entirely in favor of Touch ID.
Camera improvements go beyond megapixels. The iPhone 18 Pro models are expected to include variable aperture on the main rear camera, letting the phone physically adjust light intake for better shots across different conditions. Samsung actually pioneered this feature with the Galaxy S9 back in 2018, then inexplicably dropped it.
Other rumored additions include satellite 5G support and new color options like Burgundy, Brown, and Purple. The Camera Control button is reportedly losing its capacitive layer in favor of simpler pressure-based sensing.
Samsung’s current trajectory doesn’t suggest it’s ready to counter any of this. Unless the company makes serious hardware changes before the Galaxy S27 series, it risks falling further behind a competitor that’s finally addressing long-standing design limitations while pushing into new product categories.
