Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review

The competition

The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE pricing is seemingly propped up by the current memory chip situation, as it launches at a higher price level than the S25 FE without offering a considerable improvement over last year's formula. If you've been hearing us say that all too often recently, it's because it has become a recurring theme with the past few phone releases.

In the US, the base 128GB S26 FE costs $700, while the 256GB version is $800. Things are arguably worse in Europe, where the two storage tiers currently go for €700 and €800, respectively, on Amazon. Samsung itself asks €800 and €900, though there are some promotions we'll get to in a moment. The situation is similar in the UK: £650 and £750 on Amazon, or £700 and £800 directly from Samsung.

Samsung does, however, offer some aggressive promotions directly and through retailers.

Looking around for potential alternatives, the Poco X8 Pro Max stands out as a particularly good deal. There's no telephoto here, but other than that, it's a great phone all around. You get a great display, an excellent Dimensity 9500s chipset, fast storage with plenty of RAM and a huge battery with excellent endurance. Best of all, at the time of writing, we found the base 12GB/256GB version on Amazon Germany for under €500 and the 12GB/512GB model for under €600.

Xiaomi Poco X8 Pro Max • Samsung Galaxy S25 FE • Honor 600 Pro • vivo V70

If you feel that you absolutely need to have a Samsung for one reason or another, with the right combination of promos you might be able to swing a Galaxy S26+. It has the same display size, but gets higher brightness and LTPO tech, better cameras, a more powerful chipset and a few other extras here and there, such as UWB and DP video output. Honestly, none of those is major enough on its own to justify a big premium over the S26 FE in our opinion. Still, at the right price, the S26+ is a definite upgrade.

Or you could go in the opposite direction. If you're willing to sacrifice the telephoto camera, some chipset performance and a few other minor features, the Galaxy A57 can save you a huge chunk of money. We saw the base 8GB/128GB version going for just €315.

Our obvious and predictable choice, however, would be the Galaxy S25 FE. Not much has realistically changed since last year's model. There are a couple of minor upgrades and a few minor downgrades, but fundamentally, you're getting much the same phone. And with the same seven-year support promise in place, you aren't realistically giving up much on that front either.

Honor has an interesting alternative in the Honor 600 Pro. It currently goes for about as much as the Galaxy S26 FE on Amazon, but typically in a 12GB/512GB configuration. The Honor has a smaller but definitely brighter and arguably better display, as well as an arguably better camera setup. With the Snapdragon 8 Elite at the helm, performance is roughly on par with the S26 FE. You also get a bigger battery and faster charging, which certainly doesn't hurt.

For our final suggestion, why not look at the vivo V70? At current prices, it's actually a bit cheaper than the S26 FE on average, while offering a broadly similar package. Once again, the display is smaller, but arguably better and certainly brighter. The camera setup is arguably better too, unquestionably so on the front, thanks to its autofocusing 50MP selfie camera. You also get a larger battery and faster charging.

Our verdict

The Galaxy S26 FE is a difficult phone to sum up, mostly because there is very little actually wrong with it. In isolation, it is a very good, well-rounded device. It is well-built, fairly thin, IP68-rated and uses suitably premium materials. Its 6.7-inch AMOLED display is still very good, even if it is hardly cutting-edge by current standards. You get capable stereo speakers, wireless charging, a versatile triple-camera system with an actual 3x telephoto, excellent software and an industry-leading software support commitment.

And this year, there is even a meaningful performance upgrade. The Exynos 2500 is substantially faster than the Exynos 2400 in the S25 FE and brings the S26 FE surprisingly close to last-generation flagship performance. Thermal behavior is better as well, and Samsung has managed to squeeze noticeably better battery endurance out of the same 4,900 mAh capacity. Charging speed has improved slightly too.

So, there are upgrades here. Just not nearly enough of them.

The display is largely unchanged from last year. It still lacks LTPO, still only switches between 60Hz and 120Hz and, while perfectly usable outdoors, is nowhere near the brightest panel in its class. The camera setup is mostly carried over as well. It remains versatile and capable of producing generally good results, but there is nothing particularly impressive about it in 2026, especially when it comes to the tiny 8MP telephoto and the rather basic ultrawide.

Battery life has improved, but this is increasingly becoming an area where Samsung is simply getting left behind. Rivals are routinely fitting substantially larger batteries into similarly-sized devices, often while offering much faster charging as well.

There are some outright regressions too, which are arguably harder to swallow on a phone that costs more than its predecessor. The move to USB 2.0 is disappointing on its own, but losing DisplayPort video output along with it feels particularly unnecessary. Wireless DeX is still here, thankfully, but wired DeX was one of those distinctly flagship Samsung features that helped separate the FE from the company's cheaper A-series devices. The speakers have gotten quieter yet again as well.

Perhaps that is the biggest problem with the Galaxy S26 FE. Traditionally, the FE formula was about carefully shaving away expensive bits while preserving almost everything that made a Galaxy S flagship special. With the S26 FE, Samsung seems to have shaved a little too close in a couple of places.

Thankfully, One UI remains one of the strongest arguments in Samsung's favor. One UI 9 is packed with features, Samsung's Galaxy AI suite continues to expand, and the promise of up to seven major Android upgrades is excellent. There is something to be said for buying into Samsung's mature ecosystem and knowing that the phone should remain properly supported for many years.

The problem is the price. At €700/$700 for the base 128GB model, the Galaxy S26 FE simply isn't particularly compelling. At those prices, better-specced competitors start making a lot of sense, while Samsung's own discounted older flagships and FE models become arguably even more dangerous competition.

Of course, MSRP and the actual price of a Samsung phone are often two very different things. Samsung loves its trade-ins, launch bonuses, vouchers and assorted promotions. Get enough of those stacked together, and the S26 FE starts making substantially more sense.

Even then, though, there is an elephant in the room called the Galaxy S25 FE. It delivers almost the same overall experience, has the same excellent long-term software commitment and even retains some features the S26 FE has lost. Unless you specifically want the additional performance of the Exynos 2500 and the improved battery endurance, or simply can't find the older model at a meaningful discount, the S25 FE is arguably the smarter purchase.

Ultimately, the Galaxy S26 FE still fulfills the basic FE brief. You get most of the Galaxy S experience without buying a full-blown flagship, and there are very few major weaknesses in the package. It is fast, refined, versatile and should remain relevant for years.

We just wish the "value" part of the Fan Edition equation hadn't become quite so difficult to find.

Pros

• Premium build, Gorilla Glass Victus+ front and back, IP68 rating.
• Very good 120Hz AMOLED display.
• Excellent software experience with seven major Android OS upgrades.
• Faster performance and better thermal compared to S25 FE.
• Improved battery endurance.
• Versatile camera setup with a dedicated 3x telephoto.

Cons

• High launch price.
• Barely any major upgrades compared to the Galaxy S25 FE.
• USB downgraded to USB 2.0; wired DisplayPort output and wired DeX are gone.