Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review

Display

As far as we can tell, the S26 FE has the same display as the S25 FE. That is to say, a pretty great Samsung panel, but not exactly the best one currently available - basically the FE way of doing things.

It has the same 6.7-inch diagonal as last year, the same max 120Hz refresh rate, the same 1080 x 2340 pixel resolution and the same HDR10+ video certification and advertised max brightness figure of 1,900 nits. Everything seems broadly identical on paper.

We did our usual standardized display testing, and the S26 FE seems to behave like the S25 FE and put out almost identical brightness figures. In auto mode, the S26FE managed 1,268 nits in a 75% APL window - pretty much exactly what the S25FE does.

In a 10% window, the S26FE managed just over 1,800 nits. Both are nowhere near what the regular S26 flagships can do and even further from what top-performing flagship competitors can currently push. That said, the S26FE is not starved for brightness. It has just enough to be usable outdoors.

The S26 FE has 8-bit color depth, which might sound strange in 2026, but it's not nearly as strange once you consider that the mainline S26 also uses 8-bit color.

Refresh rate handling

Last year, with our Galaxy S25 FE review, we inadvertently caused a bit of a stir in the online community by claiming the S25 FE has some undocumented "LTPO-like" behavior. While this is still true, we have come to understand what Samsung is doing here and can no longer maintain that either phone has LTPO tech. Both use regular LTPS, but are a bit clever about it.

The S26 FE still only offers two refresh rate options in Settings - Standard and Adaptive. Standard essentially locks the screen refresh rate to 60Hz. Adaptive can go up to 120Hz and occasionally switches down to 60Hz to save power. As far as we can tell, the S26 FE can not go lower than 60Hz (for instance, there is no 30Hz mode) and it doesn't support the popular 90Hz "middle-ground" mode either.

The clever part here is that the S26 FE actually detects when nothing is happening on screen and adjusts the GPU framerate output. So when we see the system refresh rate indicator show -- it's not really the refresh rate that's 0 but the framerate. That still saves some power compared to cruder implementations in cheaper phones.

HDR video support

Just like last year's model, the S26 FE has a formal HDR10+ video certification. It only makes sense, seeing how Samsung is one of the originators of the HDR10+ standard. Hence, it comes as no surprise that there is no support for Dolby Vision.

The S26 FE has the highest possible Google Widevine L1 DRM certification, allowing apps like Netflix to offer FullHD streams.

Battery life

The Galaxy S26 FE has the same rated battery capacity of 4,900 mAh as last year's model. While there were some early leaks that suggested Samsung would transition to Si/C chemistry, that isn't actually the case. The S26 FE still uses a conventional Li-ion cell. Unfortunate for sure, but then again, it's not like the mainline S26 family got new battery chemistry either.

Looking back at the S25 FE, frankly, we didn't have overly high expectations for the S26 FE. The S26 FE does offer a notable Active Use Score improvement over its predecessor, which is great to see, especially without changing the battery capacity. However, in a broader sense, most of its competitors offer better battery life, often simply through offering much larger battery capacities. Samsung is kind of getting lapped in this department. And it's not just the FE either.

Charging speed

Just like last year, the S26 FE is rated for 45W wired fast charging. The S25 FE uses Super Fast Charge 2.0 (45W) and, in particular, the new revision, which no longer requires a 5A e-marked cable. You can just use the regular 3A cable provided in the box or basically any other good Type-C to Type-C cable.

Sourcing the right charger is a bit trickier. While technically Samsung's Super Fast Charge is based around USB PD (Power Delivery) with PPS on top, not every 45W charger will be capable of delivering the necessary voltage and amps to provide the fastest possible charging speed.

Ideally, you'd need a charger with PPS going up to 16V, while some older 45W models only reach 11V. Even some older 65W chargers may not go as high as 16V.

Alternatively, you can skip the research and grab a first-party 45W charger from either Samsung or Google.

As for actual charging performance, our S26 FE unit actually charged a bit faster than last year's S25 FE. Not a spectacular improvement since it still basically takes an hour to get a full charge, but Samsung seems to have made some tweaks to the charging profile yet again.

Beyond wired charging the S26 FE also supports 15W Qi2-compatible wireless charging, plus reverse wireless charging.

There is a basic set of battery health features. You can either let the battery charge to 100% and not charge again until it drops down to 95%, or you can set a custom hard charge limit. Unfortunately, there is nothing fancier, like automatic charging behavior or bypass charging. Though, the latter might be available through something like a Samsung GoodLock module or through Game Hub.

Speakers - loudness and quality

The S26 FE carries a set of hybrid stereo speakers, meaning it has one full-fledged speaker at the bottom and another one that doubles as an earpiece at the top. Naturally, the one at the top sounds a tad quieter than the bottom one. This is not an unfamiliar setup. For one, the S25 FE has the same setup, and so does the S24 FE.

Last year the S25 FE got a bit quieter compared to the S24 FE, and this year the S26 FE got even quieter still. With the S25 FE, we sort of explained it away with some better tuning on Samsung's end. That phone seemed to sacrifice some loudness for the sake of a generally richer and fuller soundstage. And while that is sort of applicable to the S26 FE as well, frankly, it doesn't sound markedly better to our ears than last year's model. All the while, its loudness managed to slip down into the GOOD grade in our standardized testing.

Anyway, the S26 FE certainly doesn't sound bad or anything. You get clear mids and vocals, pretty crisp highs and even some bass response.

In terms of additional sound extras, there is the usual Samsung lot, including Dolby Atmos with presets and a full equalizer, as well as the UHQ upscaler for headphones and Adapt Sound, which is meant to tune sound to your ears as best as possible.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.

Connectivity

The Galaxy S26 FE is a 5G device. It supports SA/NSA Sub-6 connectivity on up to two lines simultaneously. It has two physical Nano-SIM slots that you can use, or alternatively, it also has eSIM support. Still, you can only get two concurrent cellular connections at a time.

The S26 FE has GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and BDS support for location. Local connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6e with actual tri-band support, but only in some markets. We guess it is an unfortunate regulation and certification issue, so you might end up with dual-band Wi-Fi in some places. Bluetooth is version 5.4 with LE support. There is NFC on board, as expected. No FM radio receiver or 3.5mm audio jack, and no IR blaster. Those are far less common anyway. Since we feel like the S26 FE is exactly the kind of device people are going to wonder about, we did check, and there is no UWB and, as far as we can tell, no ANT+ hardware on board.

The Type-C port on the S26 FE has outright been downgraded since last year. We can't say how many users will care, but Samsung decided to cut some of the functionality here. The Type-C in the S26 FE is backed up by a basic USB 2.0 data connection, unlike last year's S25 FE, which had USB 3.2 Gen 1 (a 10x faster throughput).

An unlike its predecessor, the S26 FE does not have DisplayPort video output over USB-C. Bummer. To be clear, there is still DeX, but it's only wireless.

At least the S26 FE seems well-stacked in the sensor department. You get an STM LSM6DSVTR accelerometer and gyroscope combo, a Haechitech MXG4300S magnetometer and compass combo, a Sitronix STK33F15 light sensor and a Bosch BMP580 barometer. The phone has a Samsung Palm Proximity Sensor version 2 unit. It is an actual hardware proximity sensor, but Samsung hides the actual hardware away behind a software layer that essentially means third-party apps can't effectively use it, mostly for power-consumption concerns.