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Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. The company took the opportunity to reveal the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on impressions of all three handsets as well.In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. Here's a look at everything Samsung announced at the latest Unpacked:Galaxy S26 and S26+ Sam Rutherford for EngadgetNew-ish year, new Samsung phones. Let's deal with the out-and-out bad news first. The S26 and S26+ are each $100 more expensive than their predecessors (the RAM shortage isn't exactly helping to keep prices down). They start at $900 and $1,100, respectively, for variants with 256GB of storage. Samsung has tweaked the design a bit this time by rounding the corners to align them more with the S26 Ultra's look. The base model has a slightly larger display than the S25 at 6.3 inches, though the S26+ still has a 6.7-inch screen (albeit with a higher resolution than the S26 can handle). The S26 has a larger battery capacity than the S25 too at 4,300mAh. In North America, China and Japan, Samsung is sticking with Qualcomm chips rather than using its own Exynos 2600. If you pick up an S26 or S26+ in those markets, it will run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.The camera modules are the same as last year, but Samsung is aiming to supercharge them with upgrades elsewhere, such as ProScaler image upscaling and an MDNIe chip that's said to greatly improve color precision. There's also a video stabilization feature that tries to keep the horizon level while you're following a moving person or pet, which sounds useful for action shots. The new Object Aware Engine is said to better render skin tones and hair textures to make your selfies look better. Samsung has reworked some AI features too, such as making Now Brief and Auto Eraser compatible with more apps.Pre-orders for the S26 and S26+ are open today, and they'll be available on March 11. The phones will be available in purple, blue, black, white, silver and rose gold, though the latter two are online exclusives. We've already had a chance to try the Galaxy S26 and S26+, so be sure to check out our hands-on story for our first impressions.Galaxy S26 UltraThe Galaxy S26 Ultra will be available in the same colorways and on the same date as its smaller siblings. It starts at $1,300, so theres no price increase from the S25 Ultra. Preorders open today.The S26 Ultra has a 6.9-inch AMOLED display with a QHD+ resolution of 3120 x 1440 and a 120Hz refresh rate. That's all well and good, but the display is hiding (that being the key word) what's perhaps the Galaxy S26 Ultra's most interesting feature.The device has a Privacy Display thats said to be the first of its kind on a smartphone. The idea here is to prevent people around from seeing whats on the screen from acute angles. There's a small decrease in brightness when Privacy Display is active, and there are lots of customization options. You can set up Privacy Display to activate when you're asked for a password or PIN, or when you get a notification or open certain apps. So if (for instance) you tend to look at your banking apps when youre on public transit and dont want other passengers to see how much moolah you have, Privacy Display seems like a very handy feature.Elsewhere, the S26 Ultra runs on the same chipset as its smaller siblings. It comes with 12 or 16GB of RAM and 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage. The battery is larger than the ones in the other S26 models, as the Ultra has a 5,000 mAh capacity. There's support for Super Fast Charging 3.0 as well. Alas, Samsung still hasn't seen fit to offer built-in Qi2 charging magnets in the S26 lineup, which seems like a wild oversight in the year 2026.The selfie camera is the same as on the S26 and S26+. The S26 Ultra has 50MP ultrawide and 200MP wide lenses, along with dual 10MP 3x and 50MP 5x telephoto sensors. The resolutions of those cameras are the same as on the S25 Ultra, but the main 200M and 5x telephoto sensors now have wider apertures to let in more light. The S26 Ultra of course has the camera software features (and other AI features) found in the S26 and S26+.We'll have a review of the Galaxy S26 Ultra soon. In the meantime, head on through to our hands-on story for our initial impressions.Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 ProSam Rutherford for EngadgetWhile the S26 phones are more iterative updates this year, Samsung has given its Galaxy Buds a proper refresh. It revamped the design and shape of the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to do away with the angular look of the stems and remove the lights from them. The earbuds have a "more refined, computationally designed fit" too, according to Samsung. The company claims the latest earbuds have smaller earbud heads that allow for a better, more secure fit and a more "comfortable experience during all-day wear." The Galaxy Buds 4 remain in an open-fit format while the Buds Pro 4 have a canal-fit design.The latest earbuds are said to offer improved audio quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), with an ambient sound mode, adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. On Buds 4 Pro, there's a siren detection feature that enables ambient sound to let you hear things like alarms or emergency vehicle warnings.The Buds 4 Pro have a wide woofer that increases the effective speaker area by nearly 20 percent compared with the previous gen earbuds, Samsung said. They support 24-bit/96kHz audio.If you're using Galaxy Buds 4 or Buds 4 Pro with a Galaxy device, you'll be able to use Bixby, Google Gemini and Perplexity with hands-free voice controls (though the "hey, Plex" command for the latter might be a tad confusing for folks who use a certain media server app). The Buds 4 Pro support head gesture controls for managing calls and Bixby interactions as well.As with the S26 phones, pre-orders for the earbuds open today and they'll hit shelves on March 11. The Galaxy Buds 4 cost $180 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will run you $250. Both models are available in white and black with a matte finish. There's an online-exclusive pink option for Buds 4 Pro as well.Android AI featuresAhead of Unpacked, Samsung confirmed that it would offer Perplexity as an AI agent option in Galaxy AI on the S26 lineup. It also recently updated Bixby to make its own virtual assistant more conversational.On top of that news, Google had announcements of its own to make at Unpacked regarding new Android AI features, which will of course be available on S26 devices. On those handsets and the Pixel 10 lineup, the Gemini app will soon have a feature (in beta) that enables you to offload multi-step tasks, such as booking a ride or putting a grocery order together, to AI. It sure sounds like an attempt to build out agentic AI features on mobile devices.Launching soon as a beta feature in the Gemini app for #Pixel10, Pixel 10 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S26 series, you can offload multi-step tasks directly to Gemini.Simply long-press the power button and ask Gemini to help book you a ride home or reorder your last meal. Gemini https://t.co/GjfXTnGg0k pic.twitter.com/YGIvqBkbu3 Google Gemini (@GeminiApp) February 25, 2026 Starting this week on Pixel 10 devices (and soon on S26 phones), Circle to Search will offer the ability to find details about multiple objects at once, such as entire outfits instead of single pieces. Moreover, Gemini-powered, on-device Scam Detection for phone calls will be available for S26 devices in English in the US.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/everything-announced-at-samsung-unpacked-galaxy-s26-lineup-and-more-180000129.html?src=rss
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Here's yet another troubling story about this "golden" era of AI. A hacker has exploited Anthropic's Claude chatbot to carry out attacks against Mexican government agencies, according to a report by Bloomberg. This resulted in the theft of 150GB of official government data, including taxpayer records, employee credentials and more. The hacker used Claude to find vulnerabilities in government networks and to write scripts to exploit them. It also tasked the chatbot with finding ways to automate data theft, as indicated by cybersecurity company Gambit Security. This started in December and continued for around a month. It looks like the hacker was able to essentially jailbreak Claude with prompts, finally bypassing the chatbot's guardrails. Claude originally refused the nefarious demands until eventually relenting. Hackers Used Anthropics Claude to Steal 150 GB of Mexican Government Data> Tell Claude youre doing a bug bounty > Claude initially refused: > That violates AI safety guidelines > Hacker just kept asking > Claude: OK, Ill help > Hacked the entire Mexican pic.twitter.com/Qaux239K8t Nawaz Haider (@nawaz0x1) February 25, 2026 "In total, it produced thousands of detailed reports that included ready-to-execute plans, telling the human operator exactly which internal targets to attack next and what credentials to use," said Curtis Simpson, Gambit Securitys chief strategy officer. Anthropic has investigated the claims, disrupted the activity and banned all of the accounts involved, according to a company representative. The spokesperson also said that its latest model, Claude Opus 4.6, includes tools to disrupt this kind of misuse. It's also been reported that this hacker used ChatGPT to supplement the attacks, using OpenAI's chatbot to gather information on how to move through computer networks, determine which credentials were needed to access systems and how to avoid detection. OpenAI says it has identified attempts by the hacker to violate its usage policies and that the tools refused to comply. The hacker remains unidentified. The attacks haven't been attributed to a specific group, but Gambit Security did suggest they could be tied to a foreign government. It's also unclear what the hacker wants to do with all of that data. Mexico's national digital agency hasn't commented on the breach, but did note that cybersecurity is a priority. The state government of Jalisco denies that it was breached, saying only federal networks were impacted. However, Mexico's national electoral institute also denied any breaches or unauthorized access in recent months. It's worth noting that Gambit found at least 20 security vulnerabilities during its research that the country is likely not keen on highlighting. Anthropic just dropped the core commitment of its safety policy: the promise to not train models it couldn't prove were safe first.The new version commits to matching competitors on safety and publishing more transparency reports. But the actual constraint, "we stop if we can't pic.twitter.com/k5Zi6dHUMN Raphael Pfeiffer (@raphpfei) February 25, 2026 This isn't the first time Claude has been used for a major cyberattack. Last year, hackers in China manipulated the tool into attempting to infiltrate dozens of global targets, several of which were successful. Anthropic just nixed its long-standing safety pledge, which committed to never train an AI system unless it could guarantee in advance that safety measures were adequate. So who knows what fresh hell the future will bring as the company's tools become more advanced.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/hacker-used-anthropics-claude-chatbot-to-attack-multiple-government-agencies-in-mexico-171237255.html?src=rss
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An open-world racing game from a studio formed by ex-Forza Horizon developers was due to be published by Amazon, but that is no longer the case. As reported first by The Game Business, UK-based Maverick Games is now in "active dialogue" with prospective new publishing partners for its currently untitled debut game, which remains in development. Maverick was founded in 2022 by Mike Brown, who served as the Horizon series creative director during his stint at Playground Games, and was able to tempt a number of other ex-Playground veterans to join the new studio. Little was publicly known about the game Amazon picked up, but shortly after Maverick was established Brown told GamesIndustry.Biz that his ambition was to make a game that was AAA, premium and eventually released with the intention of "winning all the awards." "As part of our strategic evolution to focus on projects that leverage Amazons unique strengths and scale, including the recent re-launch of Luna and our Tomb Raider franchise partnership with Crystal Dynamics, we have decided to release Maverick Games from their publishing agreement with Amazon Game Studios," an Amazon Game Studios representative said in a statement to The Game Business. "We have tremendous respect for the Maverick Games team and the compelling narrative-led driving experience theyre creating," the companty said. "This decision allows Maverick Games the flexibility to find a publishing partner whose strategic priorities are better aligned with bringing their game to market. Were proud of what we accomplished together during our partnership and wish them every success in the future." Amazons push into gaming has yielded mixed results. It seemingly remains committed to developing its Luna streaming service, but as a publisher and developer things haven't been smooth. 2020s free-to-play multiplayer shooter Crucible vanished so quickly that most people have probably forgotten that it ever existed. The MMO New World has proved more of a hit, but Amazon is still winding down support for the game next year. The future of the companys Lord of the Rings MMO is unclear, but The Game Business reports that last years cuts to its MMO division also affected the team working on that game. Earlier this week, it was announced that the Amazon Games-published co-op dungeon crawler King of Meat will shut down on April 9, less than a year after its October 2025 launch. The company does still have a pair of Tomb Raider games on its release slate, one of which is a reimagining of the original series entry from 1996. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/amazon-abandons-open-world-racing-game-by-former-forza-horizon-devs-170234100.html?src=rss
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