News and Updates about Samsung

Samsung is ending free access to the SmartThings API, with paid subscription tiers targeting availability in October 2026. Samsung is describing it as a developer pricing update, but the users most likely to feel the new Samsung SmartThings API pricing aren't software companies with engineering budgets they're hobbyists and power users who've relied on the API as a bridge between Samsung's ecosystem and more open platforms like Home Assistant. Free access remains confirmed through Q3, so...

Samsung pushed One UI 7 theft-protection features to the Galaxy S23 series last year, a move that signals the company is still treating older flagships as active hardware worth securing. For S23 owners, the more immediate question is whether the most consequential security feature already on their phone, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Auto Blocker update, is actually switched on. It probably is. But "probably" is worth verifying.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE Plus is currently on sale for $434, down $216 from its $649.99 list price. That discount matters because the FE line's value proposition has always depended on price and at $649.99, the case for buying was genuinely mixed.

A poll embedded in an Android Authority column from last month drew 7,036 votes on a single question: are you satisfied with the Galaxy S26 Ultra Privacy Display? Strip out the 35% who hadn't used the phone, and 68% of actual owners said yes. That's the strongest positive signal yet for Samsung's most debated flagship feature, and it tells a more specific story than it first appears.

Samsung didn't announce the Galaxy S27 Pro. It filed for it. Three model numbers spotted this week in GSMA database documents, SM-S956U (Galaxy S27+), SM-S957B/DS (Galaxy S27 Pro), and SM-S958U (Galaxy S27 Ultra), put the Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro confirmed by name in a public regulatory record for the first time, according to SamMobile. The base model, SM-S952U, had already turned up in the same database two weeks ago, as GSMArena reported.

Samsung announced the Galaxy A27 5G today with confirmed specs, a July 3 release date, and no official pricing. What does exist on the pricing front is a leak: figures attributed to Roland Quandt, circulated two weeks ago by Notebookcheck and IntoMobile, put the A27 at €349 and €439 for the two main storage tiers. If those numbers hold, that's a €50 increase over what the Galaxy A26 cost at launch. Samsung has not confirmed them. GSMArena's launch coverage published today notes prices are still...

Samsung announced what it describes as the industry's first UFS 5.0 storage chip, with sequential read speeds of 10.8 GB/s and write speeds of 9.5 GB/s. That's more than double the throughput of the UFS 4.1 standard found in current flagship Android phones, according to HotHardware. Samsung is framing the chip not just as a speed upgrade but as infrastructure for running AI models directly on a device, without a cloud connection.

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Retail packaging for the Samsung Galaxy A27 has surfaced through a Kenyan e-commerce retailer's Instagram post, showing the phone in three color finishes alongside a regional price and a printed 24-month warranty. The images are the most recent entry in a leak sequence that now spans official renders, marketing materials, and an accidental Samsung product page publication and together they describe a phone that's being meaningfully repositioned, not just refreshed.

The Galaxy Z Fold 7 has hit its lowest no-trade-in price since Black Friday. Samsung.com currently lists the 256GB base model at $1,499.99, though availability may vary by color/configuration, while Amazon and Best Buy are close behind at $1,649.99, all without requiring a trade-in or carrier commitment. That's over $400 off a phone that launched at $1,999.99 last July and remained near its launch price for months before recent higher-storage price changes. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 deal...

Dark Green is the only confirmed color detail from Samsung's entire 2026 foldable lineup. It belongs to the Fold 8 Wide. Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 colors remain unconfirmed, with a reported July 22 Unpacked event now less than a month away. In a cycle where hardware changes are modest across the board, the absence of color information is itself a data point worth examining.

Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station claims Samsung is testing its Privacy Display technology for the Galaxy S27 Pro, according to SamMobile's report on the leak. The feature currently ships exclusively on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. If the Samsung Galaxy S27 Pro privacy screen rumor holds, it would mark the first time the technology has moved beyond a single SKU in Samsung's lineup.

Samsung has launched five new gaming monitors under the 2026 Odyssey name, headlined by what the company calls the industry's first 6K gaming monitor. The Samsung 2026 Odyssey G8 and G7 lineup is on sale now at prices from $949.99 to $1,599.99, per Samsung's U.S. Newsroom. No independent panel testing was available at publication; buyers are working from specs alone.

Multiple leaks point to higher prices on premium storage tiers, not a blanket increase. The $1,999 entry price may hold. The Flip 8 picture is murkier.

Samsung appears to have briefly posted a full product page for the unannounced Galaxy A27 5G on its Czech Republic website before pulling it down. The listing, according to Los40, citing SamMobile, makes months of Galaxy A27 5G renders look far less speculative: It points to a cleaner design, a Snapdragon chip, four color options, six OS upgrades and six years of security updates, and one notable durability downgrade.

Tap an app on your Galaxy Watch. The splash screen appears, holds for a few seconds, then the watch drops you back to the app drawer. No error, no explanation, no app. A Galaxy Watch 8 Classic user reported exactly that failure on Reddit, with Gmail, Google Calendar, and WhatsApp all refusing to open. Neither Samsung nor Google has said anything publicly about the Galaxy Watch apps not opening problem.

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Samsung's June security update for the Galaxy S25 delivers more than a patch. Three Galaxy AI features that were absent from last month's stable One UI 8.5 release are now rolling out to the S25 series, giving owners tools that have been exclusive to the Galaxy S26 since that phone launched. The update is live in South Korea today and expected to reach North America, Europe, and India within the coming week, Android Authority and GSMArena reported Thursday.

Samsung Wallet can now store a passport-backed digital ID accepted at more than 250 TSA checkpoints across the U.S. For frequent domestic travelers on Galaxy devices, that's a genuine convenience upgrade. It is not, in any practical sense, a passport replacement. The gap between those two things is exactly what's worth understanding before you set it up.

Samsung has pushed an update to its Always On Display app that triggers animated goal celebrations and red card alerts directly on Galaxy phone lock screens, arriving two days before the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage opens.

Samsung's Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 have cleared China's 3C database, with both devices appearing in an official regulatory filing issued June 3. The Galaxy Watch 9 and Watch Ultra 2 3C certification confirms the first concrete hardware spec for either device: 10W charging at 5V/2A, matching their predecessors exactly. Android Police and Android Authority both covered the filings this week under model numbers SM-L3550 and SM-L7150.

Samsung's stable One UI 8.5 rollout began last week in South Korea, covering the S24 and S25 families, 2024-era foldables, and the Tab S10 and S11 series. The S23 generation and anything older are not on the confirmed stable release list. If headlines describing this as a rollout for "older Galaxy phones" left you checking your S22's software update screen, that's the correction this article exists to make.

Samsung is working on a "Gesture Wake-up" feature for Bixby that would let users trigger the assistant by lifting their phone close to their mouth and speaking directly into the mic, no wake phrase or button press required. The feature is taking shape in One UI 9 builds, Android Authority reported today. It isn't in the second One UI 9 public beta for the Galaxy S26 series yet, which means Samsung has not confirmed it for the stable release.

A Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra battery leak suggests Samsung may be reusing the identical 11,600mAh pack from its predecessor not just matching the capacity figure, but reportedly carrying over the same physical component. Reports from Android Authority and SamMobile, both citing GalaxyClub, landed today. Samsung has not confirmed any of these figures.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has a name, a model number, and a place in the regulatory record. A Bluetooth SIG certification filed this week lists the device explicitly as the "Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra," model number SM-F976, with five regional variants, according to Android Authority and Android Headlines, both reporting the filing today. That is what the certification confirms: the retail name Samsung submitted to a regulatory body, and nothing else. The specs, the two-device strategy, and...

A One UI 8.5 roadmap reportedly posted on Samsung's Hong Kong site suggests the Galaxy S22, Galaxy Z Fold 4, and Galaxy Z Flip 4 will not receive the update. The three 2022 flagship families are absent from the schedule entirely, and since Samsung's update strategy has historically been consistent across regions, Android Police concluded that the exclusion is likely global. Security patches are still scheduled for approximately one more year, Android Authority reported, but the reporting...

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 has appeared in the SGS certification database drawing power at 9V and 2.77A, or 25W wired charging the same ceiling every Z Flip has carried since the Flip 4, Android Authority reported today. If confirmed at launch, Samsung will have shipped five consecutive clamshells without touching the Galaxy Z Flip 8 charging speed.

Samsung's Samsung Health AI redesign begins rolling out today for Android users, with the app shifting its core purpose from displaying raw biometric data to interpreting what that data means. The update lands on Android 10 or later devices running Samsung Health v7.0, with a Samsung account required, per Samsung's Global Newsroom. The headline coaching features, though, are expected to debut first on the Galaxy Watch 9, anticipated in late July, according to 9to5Google.

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A South Korean ETNews report suggests Samsung is preparing a fourth flagship for its Galaxy S27 family: a 6.47-inch model called the Galaxy S27 Pro, reportedly aimed at buyers who want near-Ultra hardware without the Ultra's size or its S Pen. If the leaks prove accurate, it would point to Samsung's first four-phone Galaxy S lineup. Samsung has confirmed nothing.

Samsung Certified Re-Newed Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7: What Buyers Should Know

Samsung is expected to break from its one-foldable-per-year pattern this summer, with leaks pointing to two book-style devices under the Fold family: the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and a companion model called the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide. The earlier reviewed sources did not use "Ultra" for either device, though newer leak coverage has since applied the Ultra name to the taller Fold-style model.