Five minutes to go...
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It's now just five minutes till kick off, and TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff has shared some final thoughts on this year's second Unpacked.
"We pretty much all know the shape of things to come, but I'm super curious to see the reaction from the crowd here and online. Is different better or just different? Can more fold shapes expand the market? Or can only Apple do that?" he says.
We won't have to wait long to find out...
What about the Galaxy Ring 2?
What's TechRadar's Senior Fitness & Wearables Editor Matt Evans most excited about at today's Unpacked?
"I'm most looking forward to the wearables — the Watch 8 was outstanding last year, and I’m hoping for more of the same on that front. But the hotly-rumored Watch Ultra 2 is going to be the real star. Plus, who knows? We may event get a hint about a Ring 2…", he says.
Samsung has already confirmed it's working on the Galaxy Ring 2 — and while it isn't expected to get a full launch today, we could well get a teaser at the end of the event (just as Samsung did for the original Ring).
A subtle hint?
We're taking our seats at London's Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event and noticed a nice little touch from Samsung.
When you remove the perforated portion of our lanyards, it's remarkably close to the expected shape of the Z Fold 8 that we've seen in leaks.
Still, if you want an even clearer idea of what's coming, check out the leaked marketing materials that have just landed for the Fold 8 series. Or you could just wait 15 minutes to see the real thing...
These last-minute leaks are looking quite official
The official promotional materials for the Fold 8 series have been leaked by KT. pic.twitter.com/qzIvOTc6DhJuly 22, 2026
We're now less than 30 minutes away from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026, and the leaks are looking ever more convincing, with what appears to be official marketing imagery having now leaked too, as you can see above.
This shows off all three expected foldables — the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8.
The purple Z Fold 8 Ultra looks quite appealing, but hopefully the pink background is a sign that we'll get some brighter colors too.
Samsung could be about to make smart glasses more mainstream, as its first pair is rumored to be included in today's announcements, and the Samsung Galaxy Glasses as we're calling them for now have been extensively leaked.
A detailed new leak on WinFuture tallies with what we've heard before, including that these apparently won't have a screen, and will instead rely on cameras and access to Gemini, which should be able to see what you can.
They sound a lot like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, and like those they apparently use a Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chipset, which is now three years old. Still, with supposedly 9 hours of battery life, Gemini access, and a big brand name behind them, they could be a hit.
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 might live up to its name
We're also expecting various wearables today, and WinFuture has spilled the beans on the Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 and Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 in a detailed leak.
The latter could have a slightly larger and much brighter display than its predecessor, coming in at 1.52 inches and 5,000 nits, and joined by a colossal — by smartwatch standards — 800mAh battery, along with a build that's designed with divers in mind.
This is sure to be expensive, but the standard Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 should be a cheaper option for anyone who doesn't need all the bells and whistles offered by the Ultra. Sadly though we're not expecting a new Classic model this year.
All the specs have already leaked
Samsung might not have too many surprises today if you've been following the leaks and rumors, as WinFuture.de recently leaked complete specs lists for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Z Flip 8.
Highlights if this leak is accurate include a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset for the two Z Folds and — at least in Europe — an Exynos 2600 for the Galaxy Z Flip 8.
We'll also apparently get a higher-capacity and faster charging 5,000mAh / 45W battery in the Z Fold 8 Ultra, but the real highlight could be the base Z Fold 8, since this is widely expected to have a new shorter, wider form factor, which according to this leak will allow for a 7.6-inch foldable screen and a 5.5-inch cover display.
A self-healing crease?
Exclusive!Galaxy Z Fold8 series creases are self-healing.July 22, 2026
Samsung's upcoming foldables might not just have smaller creases than their predecessors, they could also have self-healing ones if the latest leak (above) is to be believed.
It's unclear how this would work, but perhaps it would ensure the crease doesn't become more visible over time. It also reminds us of the self-healing finish on the LG G Flex series, which could automatically fill in minor scratches.
It will be interesting to see how Samsung's take on this works, but if this leak is accurate then it could be Samsung's secret weapon against the upcoming foldable iPhone Ultra.
Brace yourself for price hikes
Some slightly less positive news from today's Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event is likely to be price hikes for the Z Fold 8 and Z Flip 8.
A recent report from Korea (via Phone Arena) suggested that both foldables could be about $130 pricier than their predecessors. In the grand scheme of RAMageddon, that wouldn't be too bad — and the Fold and Flip series have never been the most affordable phones anyway.
Samsung has also already increased the prices of the Z Fold and Flip 7 series over the past year, so hopefully that will soften today's potential price rises...
If you host an event in London...
The umbrellas are already out at the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 queue. We've had what feels like months without rain in London, but right on queue the dark clouds are forming.
It's now just over 90 minutes till kick-off time, so hopefully we'll be ushered inside soon...
Will Samsung finally solve foldable creases?
There's a good chance that we'll see another big step towards crease-free foldables today. We recently visited Samsung Display's secret labs where it talked to us, among many other things, about its new "Flex Titanium Technology".
This includes a special structure at the fold to give added flexibility and help reduce crease visibility. We've recently more leaks on that theme — and while the image above doesn't look like a particularly fair comparison in terms of lighting, I'm hoping this new feature lives up to the hyper when we see it in person later.
We've landed at Unpacked
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We're very keen here at TechRadar, so we've already arrived at the Galaxy Unpacked event in London, and it's very... quiet.
That's understandable, as we're still two hours away from kick-off and many international attendees will be coming from hotels much closer to the start time.
A London-based Unpacked is a rarity — last year, Samsung did a mix of US-based and virtual events, while this year's earlier Unpacked in February was in San Francisco.
You have to go back to 2012 for the last time London hosted Samsung's main event, which saw the arrival of the Galaxy S III...
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What are you most excited to see?
We've done a full rundown of everything we're expecting to see at Unpacked 2026, so that's worth a read as we get closer to kick-off (in just over two hours).
But the short version is that we're expecting three foldables (a Z Fold 8, Z Fold 8 Ultra and Z Flip 8), plus two Galaxy Watches (the Watch Ultra 2 and Watch 9), and (potentially) also Samsung's first smart glasses.
Which one are you most excited about? Let us know in the poll below...
The Z Fold 8 is winning the hype battle
Hey guys, let's guess what he's holding? pic.twitter.com/H9jwX1OCPtJuly 21, 2026
The Galazy Z Fold 8 is emerging as the potential star of today's Unpacked event — and the foldable has just appeared in a new teaser poster (above).
It's the Z Fold 8's wider, passport-style design, which will likely separate it from the taller Fold 8 Ultra, that makes it the one I'm most interested in from today's launches. Partly because it also probably gives us an early peak of the iPhone Ultra's likely form factor.
We're expecting to see a 5.5-inch cover display and 7.6-inch inner display, both with a 120Hz refresh rate. The teaser poster matches some of the leaked dummy units that we saw earlier this year (below).
First look at dummy units of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Wide, and Z Flip8. The Fold8 Wide lines up closely with the expected size of the iPhone Fold. pic.twitter.com/NVP3agwsrMApril 27, 2026
Welcome to Galaxy Unpacked 2026 (the sequel)
Hello, and welcome to our liveblog for Samsung's second big phone launch of the year, Galaxy Unpacked 2026.
We'll be reporting live from the London event, which kicks off at 9am ET / 6am PT / 2pm BST / 11pm AEST. But first, it's time to take you through all of the last-minute rumors on what we're expecting to see — and we certainly haven't been short of leaks...
English (US) ·