Samsung Debuts Galaxy S26 Ultra Runway Cam at The Devil Wears Prada 2 Premiere

Samsung turned the red carpet into a camera commercial. At the world premiere of The Devil Wears Prada 2 at Lincoln Center on April 20. The company set up a "Runway Cam" powered entirely by its Galaxy S26 Ultra, capturing professional-grade footage of stars like Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and Anne Hathaway as they arrived for the sequel to the 2006 hit. The activation marks Samsung's latest push to sell the S26 Ultra on its camera credentials rather than processor benchmarks.

Announced February 25 at Galaxy Unpacked and released March 11, the device packs a quad-camera system built around a 200 MP primary sensor with an f/1.4 lens, plus a new All Lens On Prism (ALoP) mechanism for its 5x telephoto camera. The global campaign features custom content with Helen J. Shen, who reprises her character Jin from the film in a spot where she uses Circle to Search with Google on the S26 Ultra to handle a last-minute Miranda Priestly demand. Samsung also tapped influencer Haley Kalil to showcase how she used Circle to Search while getting ready for the premiere.

"We believe great technology should feel as intuitive as great style," said Keena Grigsby, Samsung Electronics America's CMO and VP of Mobile eXperience. "Through our collaboration with Circle to Search with Google and The Devil Wears Prada 2, we're not just showing up in culture, we're shaping how people discover and engage with the world around them." The partnership extends beyond red carpet optics.

Samsung and Google produced multiple creative spots set inside the film's universe, framing Circle to Search as "the cheat code for staying calm in high-stakes situations." The Walt Disney Studios' EVP of Partnerships Lylle Breier said the collaboration lets audiences connect with "the world of Runway in a modern, immersive way." The timing is strategic.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters May 1, giving Samsung a two-week runway (pun intended) between its marketing push and opening weekend. The S26 Ultra itself is already generating buzz for other reasons: it runs Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 globally (skipping Samsung's own Exynos chip), delivers 60W wired charging, the fastest ever on a Galaxy phone, and introduces Privacy Display, a hardware-level screen filter that narrows viewing angles.

Samsung is offering $100 in credit on S26 Ultra purchases through May 31.