Pros & Cons
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- Excellent performance
- Useful AI tools
- Very good cameras
- Appealing hardware
- Right-sized for most people
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- Average battery life
- Lacks magnetic charging
- Limited memory and storage
- No mmWave 5G
Samsung Galaxy S26 Specs
| Battery Life (As Tested) | TBD |
| Camera Resolution (Rear; Front-Facing) | 50MP, 12MP, 10MP; 10MP |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy |
| Dimensions | 5.91 by 3 by 0.37 inches |
| Operating System | Android 16 |
| Screen Resolution | 2,340 by 1,080 pixels |
| Screen Size | 6.3 |
The Galaxy S26 (starting at $899.99) is the smallest of Samsung's trio of Android phones for 2026—and, likely, the one many will buy. Although it lacks the Privacy Display of the S26 Ultra ($1,299.99), it benefits from the more expensive phone's other upgrades, including new AI features, a cleaner design, solid radios, and above-average cameras. I wish the battery life were better and that Samsung offered more memory and storage options, but the S26 is an excellent phone if you prefer a smaller, more affordable flagship. If you need a larger screen, the best cameras, or a stronger spec sheet, consider the S26+ or our Editors' Choice, the S26 Ultra.
Design: Made for Smaller Hands
The Galaxy S26's size, feature list, and price put it in competition with a handful of solid competitors. It goes head-to-head with Samsung's own S26+, which is essentially a larger, slightly better version of the S26. It also goes head-to-head with the Apple iPhone 17 ($799) and the Google Pixel 10 ($799). These are all excellent phones, and deciding between them can be tough.
Phone design has been stale for the last few years, mostly because there's nowhere left to go with the basic slab at the moment. Unless a phone has to accommodate specific use cases, such as folding, gaming, or use in dangerous environments, phone makers opt for metal frames and glass panels on the front and back. That's true of all three Galaxy S26 phones, the iPhone 17, and the Pixel 10. The S26 has an aluminum frame, Corning Gorilla Armor on the front, and Gorilla Glass on the rear. The Ultra gets Gorilla Armor 2, but all three benefit from the IP68 standard for dust and water resistance. The iPhone and Pixel also meet IP68 and have their own toughened glass.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The S26 is well put together, feels great to hold and use, and is surely just the right size for many. The S26 is the smallest and lightest of the new Galaxy S series, measuring 5.89 by 2.82 by 0.28 inches (HWD) and weighing 5.89 ounces. The S26+ is somewhat bigger at 6.24 by 2.98 by 0.29 inches and 6.70 ounces, while the Ultra takes the size crown at 6.44 by 3.07 by 0.31 inches and 7.55 ounces. The iPhone 17 is really close, at 5.89 by 2.81 by 0.31 inches and 6.24 ounces, while the Pixel 10 is slightly bigger and heavier at 6.02 by 2.83 by 0.34 inches and 7.2 ounces.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The phone comes in Black, Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, or White, with Pink Gold and Silver Shadow options available online. Samsung sent me the Sky Blue model, a light shade of blue. I like it, especially since Samsung matched the frame and rear panel colors.
You won't have any trouble finding or using the controls if you're coming from an older Galaxy S phone. The right side has the volume toggle near the top and the power button below it. They are easy to reach and use. The bottom edge holds the USB-C port, speaker, and SIM card tray. The S26 can handle one active eSIM and one physical SIM at a time for two active lines.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The camera module is a vertical pill that holds three equally sized lenses. It's pushed into the upper-left corner of the rear panel. This is the same design Samsung has used for several generations now. It looks good; the only downside is that it makes the phone wobble when set on a flat surface.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)In all, the S26 is a pleasing, easy-to-carry phone that has most of the same features as its peers.
Display: Competes Well With Its Peers
The S26 does not have the Ultra model's fancy Privacy Display. Instead, it has a normal screen. The Dynamic AMOLED 2X display measures 6.3 inches and has a resolution of 2,340 by 1,080 pixels with a density of 409ppi. It's 0.1 inches larger than the Galaxy S25's screen, but otherwise the same. It has a variable refresh rate of up to 120Hz and brightness that peaks at an impressive 2,600 nits. For comparison, the S26+ has the same panel, but in a larger 6.7-inch size and with a resolution of 3,120 by 1,440 pixels. The Ultra's screen is 6.9 inched with the same resolution as the S26+.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The S26's screen looks terrific. It's bright, sharp, and has great viewing angles. I was able to use it indoors and out with no problem. It easily warded off direct sunlight.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)For comparison, the iPhone 17's screen is 6.1 inches with a resolution of 2,622 by 1,206 pixels at 460ppi, and up to 3,000 nits of brightness. Similarly, the Pixel 10 has a 6.3-inch OLED screen with 2,424 by 1,080 pixels, a 60Hz to 120Hz refresh rate, and peak brightness of 3,000 nits.
It's no accident that the Galaxy S26 and its two main competitors share screen sizes and have approximately the same resolutions and brightness. Really, you can't go wrong with any of them.
Performance: Keeps Up With the Ultra
Like the S26 Ultra and S26+, the S26 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy to power it. All three of the phones Samsung sent me for review have the same memory and storage (12GB/256GB), which really lets us see how they compare. Here is how the options tally up:
- Galaxy S26: 12GB/256GB = $899.99; 12GB/512GB = $1,099.99
- Galaxy S26+: 12GB/256GB = $1,099.99; 12GB/512GB = $1,299.99
- Galaxy S26 Ultra: 12GB/256GB = $1,299.99; 12GB/512GB = $1,499.99; 16GB/1TB = $1,799.99
I mostly ran our standard set of benchmarks, though GFXBench is no longer available on the Google Play Store, so I've substituted 3DMark instead. Here is how the S26 compares with a handful of other flagship phones.
It's actually amazing how close the scores are between the S26, S26+, and S26 Ultra. The three phones are basically dead even. The caveat here is that the Ultra is also available with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. I haven't tested that one, but I'm certain its scores will be a bit higher. I wish the S26 had more RAM and storage options, but to be fair to Samsung, the iPhone 17 is available in 8GB/256GB and 8GB/512GB, and the Pixel 10 is available in 12GB/256GB and 12GB/512GB.
More importantly, the S26 never struggled. It ran smoothly, launched apps quickly, multitasked without issue, and performed AI calculations just as swiftly as the Ultra. No game challenged it, no app daunted it.
Battery Life: Samsung Needs to Step It Up
The S26 is the only one of the three Galaxy phones to get a bigger battery this year. The phone's lithium-ion battery has increased from 4,100mAh to 4,300mAh, but it charges more slowly than the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. It offers what Samsung calls Super Fast Charging at 25W via cable and 15W via wireless charging pad. The S26+ (4,900mAh) gets Super Fast Charging 2.0 (45W and 20W), and the Ultra (5,000mAh) gets Super Fast Charging 3.0 (60W and 25W).
(Credit: Eric Zeman)As I said in my review of the S26 Ultra, apart from Apple and Google, many of Samsung's competitors have moved from lithium-ion batteries to silicon-carbon batteries. The latter allows for higher capacities in smaller spaces, which means longer-lasting phones. The OnePlus 15, for example, has a 7,300mAh battery that lasts a full two days per charge, and it charges in half an hour.
Moreover, the S26 doesn't support magnetic charging, like Apple's MagSafe or Google's Pixelsnap tech. This means they are disadvantaged compared with the iPhone 17 and Pixel 10 families. You'll have to pay up for one of Samsung's official Qi2-compatible charging cases if you want magnetic action.
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(Credit: Eric Zeman)The phone lasted 15 hours and 10 minutes in our battery test, which entails streaming video over Wi-Fi with the screen at maximum brightness. That's an hour better than last year's S25 and 5 minutes better than the S26 Ultra (15 hours, 5 minutes). The Pixel 10 lasted 12 hours and 40 minutes in the same test, the iPhone 17 ran for an amazing 26 hours and 11 minutes, and the OnePlus 15 ran for 26 hours and 42 minutes. The S26 may be the runt of the litter, but at least it keeps pace with its Samsung siblings in battery life.
There's no charger in the box. If you use Samsung's new 45W brick, the S26 charges from 0% to 100% in 1 hour and 5 minutes. The S26 Ultra needed an hour to charge with the same charger. The OnePlus 15, meanwhile, needs only 31 minutes.
Connectivity: Trails the S26 Plus and Ultra
Samsung has always kept the vanilla S model a few steps behind the Plus and Ultra models in terms of radios, and I wish it wouldn't.
The phone includes 5G (sub-6GHz and C-band, but not mmWave), Wi-Fi 7, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.4. It drops the Ultra Wideband radio that the other two models have. Ultra Wideband would allow the S26 to work better with select Samsung accessories. Why does Samsung continually skip this radio on the S26? It's beyond me. In this case, it's also hard to reconcile why the phone doesn't have mmWave and the latest Bluetooth, as the other phones do. Internal space constraints are the only thing that makes sense.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)Even though it doesn't have mmWave, it performed very well on Verizon's network in New Jersey. The phone hit a max of 752Mbps down and 219Mbps up. An S26+ tested at the same spot hit 726Mbps down and 199Mbps up.
When tested next to my Wi-Fi 6 router, the S26 recorded 855Mbps down and 263Mbps up, while the S26+ reached 837Mbps down and 241Mbps up.
The phone's other radios all worked without issue. It easily connects to the Galaxy Buds4 Pro and other headphones. I was able to use NFC for Samsung Wallet payments, and the GPS radio capably guided me from Point A to Point B.
Audio: Leans Towards Mids and Highs
The S26 works fine for phone calls, though it's not quite as loud as the Ultra. The calls I conducted were easy to hear, and the voices were crisp in the earpiece. It pares back any environmental noise near you, for the most part, which helps a lot. When measured, the earpiece topped 76.4dB when set all the way up during a call. The speakerphone reached 78.2dB; in testing, it was also sufficient for calls.
When you're in the mood for some media, the phone has stereo playback via the earpiece and downward-firing speaker. The low bass notes of our test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," were absent, which isn't surprising, but the mids and highs came through clearly.
Cameras: Better Than Your Everyday Android
The S26 sits a full step below the S26 Ultra in terms of camera hardware and features. It's still one of the finest phones you can buy for photography, but it (and the S26+) lack the raw megapixel power of the Ultra model. Even so, nearly everyone should be happy with the results.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)The S26 (and S26+) has a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera. Each S26 phone has the same front-facing camera: a 12MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. All three can record video at up to 8K30. The S26 Ultra has a different set of sensors. It packs a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide, a 50MP 5x zoom telephoto camera, and a 3x 10MP telephoto. Samsung made the main cameras brighter across the board, which helps with low-light photography.
For a full run-down of the S26 camera features, see our review of the S26 Ultra. All three phones share the same software and feature list, even if they don't share the same number of megapixels.
Even though the S26 has one-quarter the pixels of the S26 Ultra, it still takes 12MP final photos. In comparison, they have the same exposure results and coloring, both of which are more natural than older Galaxy S phones, but I saw more grain and softer focus from the S26.
The S26 zooms out to a max of 30x, which is far less than the Ultra's 100x, but the 30x results are just as bad as the Ultra's 100x results. That's to say, they look like watercolor paintings.
Even the selfie camera inherits some of the foibles I saw on the S26 Ultra, which means softer focus from time to time.
I have no complaints about the video-capture powers. With the same resolution, frame rate, and feature options as the costlier Ultra, the S26 does really well when you're ready to record.
Software: Smarter, More Creative AI
When you boot the S26, it'll start up with Android 16 and show you Samsung's One UI 8.1. The phone is set to get seven years of system updates and security patches from Samsung.
The S26 has all the same AI features as the 26 Ultra. Photo Assist lets you edit photos by describing the changes you want. Creative Studio lets you enhance a photo or a sketch using AI prompts.
(Credit: Samsung/PCMag)Document Scan is better at removing the distortions and visual flaws from scans you take. Samsung's Now Nudge and Now Brief are better at offering suggestions when you're performing tasks.
(Credit: Samsung/PCMag)