Samsung Galaxy S26 review
Design and handling
The Samsung Galaxy S26 is not much different from its last couple of predecessors. It has a flat front panel, flat back and flat side frame. The only change that the S26 introduces this year is the camera island.
Instead of separating the three camera units on the back, Samsung joined them in a single camera bump that protrudes more. The individual camera lenses stay, but now the camera bump sticks out quite a bit, causing the phone to wobble when placed on a flat surface. It's a bit annoying, yes, and more so than usual.
Interestingly enough, the newer S26 isn't thinner than its predecessor, unlike the S26 Ultra, which had to incorporate a larger bump to accommodate the camera hardware. The vanilla S26 is just as thick as before, measuring 7.2mm. Samsung probably just wanted to unify the design across all three phones, so there's no deeper meaning to the design change.
Speaking of dimensions, the standard S26 is slightly taller and wider due to the 0.1" larger screen. It now measures 6.3" in diagonal, up from 6.2". Not a huge difference, though. But it was probably needed to incorporate the slightly bigger battery.
The materials used for the Galaxy S26 and the ingress protection remain unchanged. It has IP68 certification against water and dust, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protective sheets on the front and back, and an Armor aluminum 2 side frame.
Galaxy S26+ vs. Galaxy S26
Going around that frame, we find the usual power button and volume rocker placed on the right side, which are super easy to reach given the size of the S26, while the bottom houses the SIM card tray. It can hold up to two physical SIM cards, but if you assign an eSIM card, you won't be able to use one of the physical SIM slots.
Galaxy S26
The under-display fingerprint reader is conveniently placed height-wise, and it's ultrasonic, so it works great - it's snappy and reliable, and works well even with wet or dirty fingers.
When it comes to colors, the standard Galaxy S26 is offered in the same color palettes as the other two bigger siblings - Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White, Silver Shadow, Pink Gold. We have the White color on our hands, which doesn't seem to be a big fingerprint magnet. Smudges in general aren't that visible.
All in all, the S26's design is simple and elegant as ever. It's small and light enough for easy handling, but we are not fans of the new camera bump. It looks and feels unnecessary and can sometimes get in the way.
