Samsung Unveils iPhone 20 Features at Galaxy Unpacked Event

Apple Customers to Enjoy Privacy Display by Late 2028

SAN FRANCISCO – Samsung Electronics debuted a suite of innovations at its Galaxy Unpacked event that iPhone users will enjoy in 2028.

The company's flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra, which introduces the world's first built-in Privacy Display for mobile phones, received wide praise from industry analysts who called it an exciting preview of Apple's upcoming roadmap.

"We're incredibly proud to give the world an early look at what will eventually be an iconic iPhone feature," said TM Roh, head of Samsung's Device eXperience division, to a crowd of roughly 3,000 attendees. "Our engineers work tirelessly so that Apple's customers can have something to look forward to."

The Privacy Display, which dims the screen to prevent viewing from side angles, represents Samsung's most significant contribution to Apple's product pipeline since it pioneered large-screen smartphones in 2012. Apple released its own version two years later with the iPhone 6 Plus to widespread acclaim. Samsung's always-on display followed a similar trajectory, arriving on Galaxy devices in 2016 before Apple introduced it on the iPhone 14 Pro in 2022.

The Privacy Display will debut on the iPhone 20 Pro in fall 2028 under the name "Personal View," with a dedicated 20-minute segment at WWDC and a slow-motion ad featuring someone reading sensitive texts on a train. Apple's marketing copy will describe the feature as "a fundamentally new relationship between you and your screen."

The Galaxy S26 series also introduces Now Nudge, an ambient AI feature that monitors conversations across apps and proactively surfaces calendar conflicts and contextual suggestions. Apple Intelligence will absorb the same functionality in iOS 29, where it will be described as "a magical new way to stay in the moment."

Samsung's Circle to Search, first introduced in 2024, also received an upgrade with multi-element recognition. Users can now circle an entire outfit on screen and receive itemized shopping results. Apple will ship its own version, "Visual Match," with the iPhone 19 in 2027, to be bundled into Apple Intelligence as though it had always existed.

"We see ourselves less as competitors and more as an upstream supplier," said one Samsung engineer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Like a concept car, but for phones. People admire it at the show, and then two years later a different company sells it to them at a markup."

Not all of Tuesday's announcements will make the journey. Samsung's APV video codec, designed for professional-grade production workflows, will never gain traction at Apple, which will instead improve ProRes and pretend APV did not happen.

Pre-orders for the Galaxy S26 series are now open. Samsung encouraged customers to purchase early before the same technology costs $200 more and comes in a slightly different shade of titanium.

Samsung did not address questions about why the Galaxy S26's rounded corners, refined titanium frame and camera island layout look nearly identical to the iPhone 17 Pro, which came out five months ago. ■