Samsung Just Made Your Car Smarter: What the Galaxy S26 Means for Kiwi Drivers

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S26 range yesterday at Galaxy Unpacked in San Francisco, and for once, a flagship phone launch has something genuinely interesting to say to drivers. Whether you are buying a used car right now or simply want to get more out of the one you already own, the S26 brings a set of in-car features that address real problems Kiwi drivers deal with every day.

The S26 is not just thinner and faster than the S25. It has been built with in-car use clearly in mind, with specific features that improve navigation, dashcam capability, hands-free call management, and Android Auto performance. Here is what is actually new and what it means for everyday driving in New Zealand.

The In-Car Features Worth Knowing About

1. Horizontal Lock: A Proper Action Cam Built Into Your Phone

Every S26 model gets what Samsung calls Horizontal Lock stabilisation. The gyro locks to maintain a level horizon even if the phone tilts, exactly like a GoPro or DJI action camera. Mount your S26 on a dash or windscreen and it will record smooth, stable, level footage even over bumps and around corners.

• Works on all three S26 models, not just the Ultra.
• Ideal for dashcam use, track days, road trips, or insurance footage.
• The S26 Ultra adds Advanced Professional Video at up to 8K at 30fps with near-lossless quality across multiple edits, well beyond what any consumer dashcam produces.

2. Better Thermals: The Phone That Stops Throttling on a Hot Dashboard

Anyone who has used their phone for navigation in summer knows the problem. The phone heats up, the processor throttles down, and the map starts lagging exactly when you need it most. Samsung has addressed this directly with a larger vapour chamber and a new thermal interface material across the entire S26 range. The S26 and S26+ improve heat transfer by 29 percent over the previous generation, while the S26 Ultra improves by 21 percent.

• Longer navigation sessions without performance drops.
• Sustained 4K recording without overheating warnings.
• More reliable wireless Android Auto projection on a sun-exposed dashboard.

3. Faster Charging: Less Time Tethered to the Dash

The S26 Ultra gets 65W Super Fast Charging 3.0 and 25W wireless charging, both meaningful upgrades over the previous generation. If your car is your main charging window during the day, a 30-minute drive will now meaningfully top up the battery rather than simply keep pace with screen-on drain.

• S26 — reaches 55% charge in around 30 minutes.
• S26+ — reaches 69% in around 30 minutes.
• S26 Ultra — reaches 75% in around 30 minutes with 65W Super Fast Charging 3.0, plus 25W wireless charging.

4. Smoother Wireless Android Auto

The new processors in the S26 range deliver meaningfully faster performance for wireless Android Auto projection. Samsung says this translates to faster route recalculations when you miss a turn, lag-free music streaming, and stable multitasking between maps, calls, and audio without the brief freezes that have been a persistent complaint with wireless projection. If your car supports wireless Android Auto and you have found it frustrating on older phones, this is a genuine improvement.

5. Hands-Free Call Management: Nod to Answer, Shake to Decline

New head gesture controls let you accept an incoming call by nodding and decline one by shaking your head, without touching the phone at all. Combined with the redesigned Bixby assistant, which can now adjust settings like screen brightness by voice, the S26 gives drivers more genuine hands-free control than any previous Galaxy phone.

6. AI Call Screening While Driving

The S26's Galaxy AI can now answer unknown calls, provide a text summary of what the caller says on screen, and let you decide whether to pick up without the phone ringing through to you. For drivers, this means unknown or suspected spam calls are handled automatically. You can glance at the summary at a red light without the distraction of an active call.

• All processing happens on-device. No call audio is sent to the cloud.
• Scam detection uses on-device AI to flag suspicious calls in real time with an audio and haptic alert.
• The feature is automatically disabled for numbers already in your contacts.

7. Now Nudge: Calendar-Aware Notifications Without App Switching

Now Nudge automatically checks your calendar when you receive messages about plans or availability, flags conflicts, and surfaces a notification without requiring you to switch apps. For drivers who manage scheduling on the go, this reduces the temptation to open calendar apps manually while driving.

The Gemini agentic features that can book rides and complete multi-step tasks in the background are currently in beta and rolling out in the US and Korea first, with broader availability expected later in 2026.

What This Means If You Are Buying a Car Right Now

Always comply with New Zealand road safety laws when using a mobile phone in a vehicle.

Most of the S26's in-car features work regardless of what car you drive. Horizontal Lock, AI call screening, faster charging, and improved thermals work whether your car has a 10-year-old radio or the latest connected system.

Wireless Android Auto is the one feature that depends on your car's head unit. Many Japanese import people movers, wagons, and SUVs in the used cars market already have aftermarket Android Auto units fitted, and compatibility is straightforward to check before you buy. Ask at the yard about the specific unit when you visit.

The broader point is worth making: a well-spec'd cheap car with Android Auto, paired with an S26, gives you navigation, music, calls, and dashcam functionality that rivals far more expensive new vehicles. Technology in your pocket is now doing a lot of the heavy lifting that used to require buying new.

If you are in the market for a car that supports Android Auto, browse our current station wagons, people movers, and SUVs across all locations. Ask at the yard about Android Auto compatibility on any specific unit.

S26 In-Car Features at a Glance

• Horizontal Lock: Stabilised video like a GoPro, available on every S26 model.
• Better thermals: 29% improvement on S26 and S26+, 21% on the Ultra — no more dashboard throttling.
• Faster charging: 65W wired and 25W wireless on the Ultra. 55% in 30 minutes on the S26, 69% on the S26+.
• Smoother wireless Android Auto: Faster processor, less lag and freezing.
• Head gestures: Nod to answer, shake to decline, no hands required.
• AI call screening: Galaxy AI answers unknown calls and provides a screen summary.
• Scam detection: On-device AI flags suspicious calls in real time.
• Now Nudge: Calendar-aware notifications without switching apps.