Samsung leaked the Galaxy S26 in the most unlikely place last year

This week is Galaxy Unpacked week, and we are a mere two days away from Samsung introducing its latest smartphone lineup. At this late date, the upcoming Galaxy S26 family already feels like a known quantity, having been so thoroughly detailed across months and months of rumors and leaks. But even now we’re still coming up with new finds, and today we’re looking at one that’s surfaced in an unexpectedly public place.

Samsung may be trying to plug up the leaks in its organization, at least when it comes to the intentional disclosure of trade secrets, but there are still plenty of ways that employees can accidentally reveal details of upcoming devices while performing their official duties.

Back in October, someone with a Samsung email address submitted a bug report posted on Google’s Chromium issue tracker. They complained of inconsistent frame rates in split-screen view, and attached a video to illustrate. And then there’s one little note, mentioned under Additional Comments: “device is S26.”

Admittedly, we don’t get to see much of the hardware at all, but if you had any doubts, that watermark at the bottom of the screen should be hitting you over the head with the idea that this is an internal device not meant for the public.

The bug report itself doesn’t seem to have actually gone anywhere. The Googlers responding appear a bit perplexed as to why the Firefox browser is being used in this demo to show off what’s supposed to be a Chromium bug, and suggest that any fluctuating frame rate is more a system issue with the way Samsung handles touch input than anything to do with Chromium. 

We’re still very much looking forward to everyone getting their formal, official first look at the Galaxy S26 series this Wednesday, but it’s fun to think that an S26 video from Samsung itself has been sitting under our noses this whole time.

Check back with us on Wednesday for full coverage of Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked launch event.