Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra, 2 other products named to TIME's Best Inventions of 2026
Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphone / Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics said Friday that three of its products have been named to TIME magazine’s list of The Best Inventions of 2026.
The U.S. weekly news magazine announced the list Thursday (local time). It picked the Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphone in the Consumer Electronics category, the Bespoke AI Family Hub refrigerator in Household and the Odyssey G8 gaming monitor in Entertainment & Gaming.
TIME compiles the list each year from nominations by its editors and correspondents around the world. It rates new products and ideas on originality, efficacy, ambition and impact.
The magazine called the Galaxy S26 Ultra “a privacy-focused smartphone,” citing its Privacy Display. The feature effectively blocks people from viewing the screen from the side. Users can choose when it turns on or apply it only to certain content, such as pop-up notifications. TIME said this makes it more flexible than conventional privacy screen protectors.
The phone is the top model in the Galaxy S26 series, which was released in March. It has a 200-megapixel wide-angle camera and artificial intelligence (AI) features such as Now Nudge, which suggests information based on what the user is doing.
The Bespoke AI Family Hub refrigerator was recognized for AI Vision. The feature uses cameras inside the fridge to identify stored food. Users can check what is inside through Samsung’s SmartThings app and track expiration dates. The fridge also has a 32-inch screen on its door.
The 32-inch Odyssey G8 is the first gaming monitor to support 6K resolution, according to Samsung. A dual mode lets users switch between 6K at 165 hertz and 3K at 330 hertz. Hertz measures how many times per second the screen refreshes, so the higher setting gives smoother motion in fast-paced games.
Samsung products have made the list every year since 2021. Last year’s picks were the Micro RGB TV, The Frame Pro and The Premiere 5 projector.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.