Samsung previews the Galaxy S26’s low-light video capabilities with an AI-generated clip that doesn’t feature a second of footage from the phone itself
Samsung has been releasing teasers for the Galaxy S26 family in the weeks leading up to the official event on February 25, but the latest has raised more questions than excitement. The clip features two skaters at night under the tagline “get ready for the next level of Nightography with #GalaxyAI,” with the notable detail that the footage wasn’t captured with the phone itself, but was generated by artificial intelligence.
An analysis by Android Authority is blunt: the clip lacks textures on buildings, the skateboard, and shoes, with bags containing objects of impossible appearance, and shadows and lighting that betray the synthetic origin of each frame. The publication calls it “probably the worst teaser of the series to date,” a sentiment that’s hard to dispute.
When AI promotes what the camera should demonstrate
Samsung isn’t new to using AI tools in its promotional materials—at least two previous S26 series teasers included the same compact-print legal disclaimer. In some contexts, this makes sense: a zoom clip ending with a dog wearing glasses inside a car is clearly a lighthearted demonstration of nothing real.
The problem is that this teaser had all the ingredients for an honest demonstration: a nighttime street, urban lighting, and two people skateboarding. Here’s the kind of scene the S26 should be able to handle without needing external assistance, and Samsung chose to recreate it with AI instead of recording it with its own hardware. All known information about the expected models, colors, and specifications points to a lineup with real ambition on paper. The increasing sophistication of smartphone cameras is driving innovation in computational photography and AI-assisted image processing.
This leads to an uncomfortable question. Samsung issues a direct challenge to the viewer—”can your phone do that?”—with images that don’t arrive from any Galaxy S26. According to reports, the decision could reflect a real lack of confidence in the camera’s nighttime performance. It’s a demanding interpretation, but the chosen scene was so simple that the alternative seemed obvious.
Meanwhile, hardware details are coming from leaks, as expected. The Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to be the star of the event, with the anticipated Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, Privacy Display technology, and improvements in charging compared to the previous generation. Both the leaked design of the Ultra with S Pen and the near-final breakdown of the three models depart little room for surprise.
The base S26 model could debut with a 4,300 mAh battery, although this data should be read as forecasts until Samsung confirms it on February 25. What is clear is that this teaser has achieved the opposite of its objective: in the midst of the mobile camera war, Samsung has chosen a synthetic clip to sell its nighttime video.
