Samsung Galaxy S26 review

Introduction and specifications

After finishing our review of the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Galaxy S26 Plus, it’s time to turn our attention to the regular Galaxy S26, which is one of the few compact flagship phones on the market, especially in some markets like the US.

However, for another year, the Galaxy S series receives a modest update, so we don’t expect any surprises with the vanilla S26.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S26 proper probably gets a couple of extra upgrades over the Galaxy S26 Plus. In addition to the annual chipset refresh, we also get a larger 4,300 mAh battery, which may be a modest jump from last year’s 4,000 mAh, but it’s still more than the S26 Plus got from Santa Claus.

Speaking of chipset upgrades, Samsung returns to its dual-chip strategy after taking a break for the Galaxy S25 family last year. In markets outside of the US, China and South Korea, the regular S26 and the Galaxy S26+ (like our test units) use the latest Exynos 2600 SoC. We’re about to see how it performs compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon and compared to the SD 8 Elite Gen 5 in the S26 Ultra.

And finally, another small change in the Galaxy S26 is the display size, which has now grown to 6.3″, compared to 6.2″ last year. However, fancy features like Anti-Reflective DX Coating and Privacy Display remain Ultra-exclusive.

The specifications of the Samsung Galaxy S26 in brief:

• Body: 149.6×71.7×7.2mm, 167g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminum frame; IP68 dustproof and water resistant (submersible up to 1.5m for 30 minutes), Armor aluminum chassis 2.
• Display: 6.30″ LTPO dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120 Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits (peak), 1080×2340 px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 411ppi.
• Chipsets: Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (3 nm) – US/CN, Exynos 2600 (2 nm) – Rest of the world (and our review unit): Octa-core (2×4.74 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L + 6×3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M) – US/CN, 10-core (1×3.80 GHz C1-Ultra e 3×3.25GHz C1-Pro and 6×2.75GHz C1-Pro) – FILA; Adreno 840 – USA/CN, Xclipse 960 – FILA.
• Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.X.
• Operating system/software: Android 16, up to 7 major Android updates, One UI 8.5.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0μm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm, 1/3.94″, 1.0μm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚, 1/2.55″ 1.4μm, super stable video.
• Front camera: 12 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/3.2″, 1.12μm, dual pixel PDAF.
• Capture Video: Rear camera: 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 10-bit HDR, HDR10+, stereo audio recording, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K at 30/60 fps, 1080p at 30 fps.
• Drums: 4300mAh; 25W wired, PD3.0, 55% in 30 minutes, 15W wireless (Qi2 Ready), 4.5W reverse wireless.
• Connectivity: 5G; eSIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT5.4; NFC.
• Miscellaneous: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers; Samsung DeX, Samsung Wireless DeX (desktop experience support).

As for the rest of the hardware, it’s largely the same. The main camera is still 50MP, flanked by a 10MP 3x telephoto lens and a 12MP ultrawide one. The device also relies on the same 25W wired and 15W wireless charging as before.

To make up for the lack of hardware updates, Samsung is directing its efforts towards Galaxy AI and improving the software experience as a whole.

Unboxing of the Samsung Galaxy S26

The Galaxy S26 ships in a standard package, containing only the quick start guide and a USB-C to USB-C cable for data transfer and charging.

There’s no charger in the box, and since this phone is designed to charge at a maximum of 25W, pretty much any USB-PD charger would do the job perfectly.