Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review

Design, build quality, handling

The Galaxy S26 FE isn't really a carbon copy of last year's S25 FE, but it's hardly a major design departure either. Like the saying goes: "Same, but different, but still same".

The camera island is clearly different. As in, it is an actual island now. Samsung has this transparent thing going, which we think is pretty stylish. We're actually not sure what this particular part is made of since it will probably bear the brunt of the daily usage. We'd hope Samsung has used the same toughened Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ as on the back panel.

While on the subject, the S26 FE certainly has what we would consider a premium bill of materials. Not quite as premium as the full-fledged S26 series with its Armor Aluminum 2, but still some form of a similar aluminum compound - a perfect example of making compromises in a well-calculated way. The front side is covered with Gorilla Glass Victus+, like the back. Again, not Gorilla Glass Victus 2, but good enough in our book.

The S26 FE feels perfectly solid - no flex, no hollowness. It is definitely a well-built device, no question there. Samsung didn't compromise on the official ingress protection either. The S26 FE gets a full IP68 rating, which means it should be able to survive up to thirty minutes in up to 1.5 meters of fresh water.

From the front, the new S26 FE is literally indistinguishable from last year's model. Its design is very much the product of modern smartphone trends. That is to say, fairly flat sides, plus absolutely flat front and back sides with quite aggressively curved corners - a curvature that extends well into the display itself.

There is nothing particularly noteworthy about the controls and their layout. A standard power button and volume rocker combo on the right-hand side. Both are well positioned height-wise with decent tactile feedback. Nothing remarkable, but still perfectly good enough.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

The left-hand side is absolutely empty. You can see a couple of antenna lines. Samsung doesn't go to any trouble really hiding those, but we think they have a charm of their own.

There are a couple of holes on the top frame, presumably for microphones. Another microphone sits on the bottom part of the frame next to a fairly slim speaker slit and the SIM tray. Of course, the Type-C port front and center.

The front side is pretty clean. The display bezels are pretty much symmetrical and quite thin. The earpiece/second speaker is well hidden above the display. In typical Samsung fashion, the sensors (proximity and light) are well hidden away somewhere in the top right corner, underneath the display. The selfie punch hole isn't overly large either.

Overall, we would call the S26 FE design perfectly familiar and unremarkable. The slightly tweaked camera island is not a bad touch, but hardly adds any real flair. The color selection is kind of fresh. The S26 FE can be had in Blueberry, Graphite or Pistachio (our review unit).

The Pistachio colorway on our review unit seems to be our favorite. It is quite subtle and understated, yet not entirely boring; we like it.

Finally, the S26 FE expectedly uses an under-display fingerprint reader. It is not of the "fancier" ultrasonic variety, but rather a simpler and presumably cheaper optical one. Still, these sensors have come a long way since their inception, and we find this one particularly accurate and snappy.