Samsung Electronics hosted Galaxy Unpacked July 2026 at Old Billingsgate in London on July 22, launching its first AI smart glasses alongside a sweeping overhaul of its foldable phone lineup, including two simultaneously available book-style foldables for the first time.
Intelligent Eyewear enters the AI eyewear market
Samsung Electronics hosted Galaxy Unpacked July 2026 at Old Billingsgate in London, unveiling, alongside the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Flip8, the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Galaxy Watch9, as well as new intelligent eyewear. The event also introduced a new agentic AI platform layer spanning the full lineup.
Samsung introduced its Intelligent Eyewear at Galaxy Unpacked in London, building on concepts announced at Google I/O; the new designs were developed with global eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. Samsung’s first smart glasses will be audio-based and will allow users to interact with Google’s Gemini AI hands-free. Both designs run Android XR, without any screens inside. The Intelligent Eyewear, widely anticipated to reach market as the Galaxy Glasses, brings users access to translation, message summaries, and contextual support in a hands-free wearable format.
Won-Joon Choi, chief operating officer of Samsung’s Mobile eXperience Business, said: “As agentic AI reshapes mobile experiences, the next step is to make those experiences more intuitive and responsive to each user’s context.” Samsung has not disclosed how much the glasses will cost or when they will launch, beyond a vague timeframe of fall 2026.
Samsung is entering a market where Meta holds a commanding position in AI smart glasses. As consumers explore alternatives to holding a phone for quick queries, directions, and real-time translation, AI-powered eyewear is fast becoming a new consumer device category that major tech players are racing to own.
For perspective on how quickly Americans cycle through personal devices, Microsoft Research has argued that the computing power already sitting in people’s pockets goes largely untapped each year.
Two book-style foldables with opposing design philosophies
Samsung is launching its most sweeping foldable overhaul in the product line’s history, and for the first time it is doing so with two simultaneously available book-style foldables that disagree, by design, about what a folding phone should be.
The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is the true heir to the Galaxy Z Fold7’s design legacy, featuring a similarly taller and narrower form factor than the standard Z Fold8. The Galaxy Z Fold8, while it follows the Z Fold7 in name, has taken on an updated design, wider and shorter than Samsung’s previous Folds, opening up to an interior display closer to the dimensions of a compact tablet. As the first Ultra model in the Galaxy Z series, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra pairs ultra-level performance with an expansive foldable display to elevate productivity through AI-powered multitasking.
The Galaxy Z Flip8 uses the Exynos 2600 in selected markets, including Korea and Europe, while US models are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The event also introduced a new display technology designed to directly target the persistent crease at the center of every foldable Samsung has ever shipped.
Watches, pre-orders, and availability
The event was streamed live on Samsung.com, Samsung Newsroom and Samsung’s YouTube channel beginning at 2 p.m. BST and 9 a.m. EDT on July 22, 2026. Everything Samsung announced is expected to launch on August 7. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, Fold8, and Flip8 opened for pre-order in select markets on July 22, 2026.
During Galaxy Unpacked 2026 in London, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Watch Ultra2 and Galaxy Watch9, the company’s first smartwatches powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite processor, departing from the Exynos W application processors Samsung had used in the Galaxy Watch lineup. Both new watches are available for pre-order starting July 22.
The competitive subtext of the event is not subtle. The Galaxy Z Fold8 is said to feature a wide, 4:3-aspect-ratio inner display, making it feel closer to a compact tablet than a traditional foldable, the same aspect ratio that Apple’s anticipated first foldable iPhone is reportedly targeting, with Apple’s device widely expected later in 2026.
For consumers keeping an eye on device upgrade timing, research shows that Americans hold onto older devices far longer than the market assumes, often leaving significant trade-in value unclaimed. Samsung’s dual-book-foldable approach, combined with its new Intelligent Eyewear, signals that the company is betting on a broader hardware ecosystem rather than a single hero product to drive its second-half 2026 sales.
