Samsung just leaked the upcoming Galaxy S26 inside its own software this time. The eagle-eyed folks over at Android Authority found these renders inside the latest One UI 8.5 build, which shows the back of the Galaxy S26/S26 Plus and the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
These renders do pretty much confirm our renders that we exclusively leaked a few months ago. It also shows that the design is not changing all that much this year. Though we are getting the camera island that Samsung debuted on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 earlier this year.
Samsung is showing these devices as “Codename – M1, M2” and then there’s “Codename – M3”. Leaks that have come out previously confirmed that the M1 and M2 names are for the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26 Plus, while the M3 name is for the Galaxy S26 Ultra . Which we could also tell just by looking at these devices.
This leak should come as no surprise
This really shouldn’t be a surprise. Companies are always putting hints of new devices into new versions of their software. This isn’t really to tease users, but more so to prepare the software for the next round of devices that will be launching. It’s likely that the Galaxy S26 series would launch with One UI 8.5, since One UI 9 won’t come out until next Summer with Android 17.
Even Apple does this, we’ll routinely see lines of code hinting at new devices that have not yet been announced. But that’s usually about it. Just lines of code, and not actual images, which we have here with Samsung.
Either way, Samsung is planning to announce the Galaxy S26 series in February, so we’re still a couple of months out from the official launch. It’s rumored to be later this time around, likely due to the government shutdown that lasted throughout October and part of November, which delayed FCC certifications for the OnePlus 15 and likely for the Galaxy S26 series too.
