Samsung hasn’t officially announced the Galaxy S26 series yet, but the One UI 8.5 software may have already revealed one of the series’ biggest design details: its color options. New wallpapers discovered within the software hint at a bold color palette for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, including bright orange. This bright orange could become the signature color of 2026.
Orange, Silver, and Turquoise Colors on the Way
While the wallpapers were first spotted by a lesser-known source, renowned leaker Ice Universe has backed up this finding, making it difficult to discredit the leak. Each wallpaper focuses on a specific color: orange, silver, white, pink, black, and turquoise. If these colors directly correspond to the launch series, buyers are expected to be able to choose from six different color options.
Samsung is known for keeping certain hues exclusive. Given recent trends, Black, White, Silver, and Pink are likely to be the standard retail options. However, more flashy orange and turquoise versions could be released as Samsung.com exclusives or regionally exclusive colors, as seen with the S24 and S25 series.
The potential orange variant is particularly intriguing. This aligns with previous rumors that Samsung is experimenting with a more vibrant, eye-catching color for the S26 Ultra. This would be a notable change in appearance, considering the Ultra series generally sticks to more muted tones.
The Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to use only Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, while the standard and Plus models will reportedly come with Samsung’s own 2nm-based Exynos 2600 chip in most markets. While the Exynos chip has already delivered some impressive benchmark figures, there are still doubts about how these results were achieved.
According to current leaks, the camera upgrades in the S26 series appear to be modest. However, Samsung may finally introduce proper Qi2 magnetic charging support for all three models and slightly larger batteries for the base and Plus models.
While the launch date is still some time away, these kinds of early leaks tend to stick. If the wallpapers truly reflect Samsung’s plans, the S26 Ultra could launch in one of the most diverse color options the Ultra series has ever seen.
