Now more than ever, AI has a much more profound impact on the best phones you can buy right now because of how practical they are in our daily lives. The Pixel 10, above all, offers the best AI features I’ve tested this year — and that adds a lot of pressure to Samsung and its forthcoming Galaxy S26 lineup.
As much as the Galaxy S25 Ultra remains as the best Android phone around, I was astounded by the bevy of AI features that accompanied the Pixel 10 series. It wasn’t just a sample sized helping of new stuff, it felt like I was getting a Costco bulk-sized serving instead. What makes the Pixel 10 better isn’t just the amount, but how practical and intuitive they are to use.
Samsung can’t afford to fall behind with Galaxy AI. There hasn’t been a whole lot of leaks around what new AI tools we could get with the Galaxy S26, but here’s what it needs to copy from the Pixel 10.
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AI-enhancing zoom camera
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(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
For years, Samsung’s Ultra phones have been some of the best camera phones around due to their exceptional zoom range. While rumors hint at an upgraded 3x telephoto shooter coming to the S26 Ultra, I’d like to see more help from Galaxy AI to enhance its zoom performance.
Google’s Pro Res Zoom feature, which is exclusive to the Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, leans on AI to tweak zoom photos captured at 30x and beyond. I’ve already tested out this feature with solid results, which you can see in the gallery above that shows the before and after.
However, I want to point out the first set of shots of the woman because it’s the perfect example of how AI is being tapped to improve the photo’s quality.
Ask Photos
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
I edit a lot of photos, so I appreciate the new Ask Photos feature of the Pixel 10 that makes complex tasks such a breeze. The beauty of this feature is that I can simply type (or speak) what edits I want to make to the photo — like changing the background to something else or boosting the exposure of faces only — and the phone does them with realistic results.
While this feature is now baked into the Google Photos app, I’d like Samsung to add its own interpretation with a native feature for the Galaxy S26. Perhaps include more generative AI features that could extend a photo to make it fit where you’re trying to post it? For example, it’d be helpful if I could take the landscape photos I capture and ‘extend’ them to fit vertically on Instagram or TikTok.
Auto best take
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
The most improved AI feature with the Pixel 10 has to be without a doubt auto best take, which gets a tremendous boost because of how it uses generative AI to give me options to change the faces of people in group photos. The before and after images above show how it transforms my face so that I’m smiling and looking at the camera.
Samsung hasn’t come out with a similar feature just yet, so I’m hoping it could be a new Galaxy AI feature available to the Galaxy S26.
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Call Screen
(Image credit: Future)
One of my all-time favorite AI features is Google’s Call Screen, which uses Google Assistant to screen phone calls on my behalf. I’ve shown how it’s very effective when I tested call screening on iOS 26 vs Android 16, as Google’s version is way more helpful.
Samsung doesn’t have anything remotely close to this, so I’m crossing my fingers it can copy this feature and make it better for the Galaxy S26. What I’d love to get is an assistant who picks up phone calls that sounds just like me, while also offering contextual responses that I can select from the phone — all without once having to pick up the call myself.
Voice Translate
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
Speaking of sounding like me, that’s what makes Voice Translate on the Pixel 10 so unique because this translating feature uses a voice that sounds exactly like me to speak in another language. I tested this out with a phone call to someone who spoke German, and to my surprise, the translated voice on the other end after I spoke my response sounded exactly like me — but with a German accent.
Samsung currently offers its own Live Translate feature, but the voice it uses is a generic one. What makes Google’s version even better is that it also adapts to the inflections of my voice.
Outlook
Now that the gap has been widened by Google, Samsung needs to react quickly and add these features to the Galaxy S26. So far, the hardware that’s rumored to come with the lineup appears to be all iterative — which is why the focus needs to be on Galaxy AI features.
Samsung could very well copy these features from Google, but as I’ve pointed out, there are ways to genuinely make them better. One area that’s underserved and stands greatly to benefit from more AI features is video. Google Gemini currently can generate videos from text prompts and existing photos with Veo 3, but I’d much prefer Samsung to focus on creator tools that can improve videos taken by the Galaxy S26 cameras.
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