Samsung recently unveiled the Galaxy S26 series and let’s just say the software team has had a busy year, while the hardware team hasn’t done much. Well, that’s not true – the S26 Ultra brings some nice upgrades. However, you can read about them in our other article. Here we will focus on the vanilla and Plus models.
First, let’s take off the Band-Aid – the Galaxy S26 and S26+ will use the Exynos 2600 in all regions except North America, China, and Japan. In those regions, Galaxy phones will be available with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5.
Samsung Galaxy S26
While we’re on the subject of calculations, the Samsung Galaxy S26 now has 256GB as a base storage option – 128GB is a thing of the past. This and the Plus models also have 512GB storage options, but the RAM capacity is locked at 12GB.
The S26 comes with an increased screen size to 6.3” diagonal (up from 6.2”). It’s still the same 1080p+ LTPO OLED panel (1-120Hz) as before.
The vanilla model also gets a battery upgrade and now has a capacity of 4,300mAh (up from 4,000mAh). The dimensions of the phone are almost the same as its predecessor as it measures 149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2 mm and weighs 167 grams (5 grams more).
The Samsung Galaxy S26+ is the same size – it has a 6.7” display (1440p+, 1-120Hz LTPO), the same dimensions and weight as the S25+, also the same 4,900mAh battery.
Samsung upgraded the S26 Ultra charging system from 45W/15W to 60W wired and 25W wireless. The Galaxy S26+’s wireless charging has increased slightly to 20W (up from 15W), while wired charging remains at 45W. What the Galaxy S26 gets is a “good fortune” as it is launched with the same 25W wired and 15W wireless charging as before.
The S26 and S26+ have the same triple camera setup – the same as last year. It includes a 50MP main (1.0μm pixels) with an f/1.8 lens with OIS. It has a 10MP telephoto camera (1.0μm pixels) with a 3x lens and a 12MP (1.4μm) ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 lens.
All three Galaxy S26 models will be available in the same four colors for the consistent branding: white, sky blue, cobalt violet, and black.
Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26+ color options
Okay, let’s go back to the chipset. Samsung is promising a 19% increase in CPU performance, a 24% increase in GPU performance and a 39% faster NPU for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 for the Galaxy (compared to the S25 series) and a similar increase for the Exynos 2600-equipped models, especially when it comes to AI tasks.
How will this affect your experience? For starters, voice commands are processed twice as fast. Similarly, tasks like transcribing voice calls and using AI Eraser take half the time.
The Galaxy S26 series is built for the agentic AI future and features a variety of smart features throughout the interface. For example, Nudge will now remind you of past commitments when chatting with friends and planning to meet up. It can also bring up relevant photos that you can send to your friends and family.
Briefs on the S26 series is now powered by the Personal Data Engine. It pulls information from notifications, messages, and emails and can locate your appointments, even if you haven’t manually added them to your calendar.
Samsung Galaxy S26+
If you take screenshots of important things, the latest One UI will help you keep them organized as it automatically sorts them into eight categories: Shopping, Social Media, Coupons, Boarding Passes, Events, Locations, Barcodes + QR Codes, and Chats. There’s also a document scanner that does more than OCR, it’ll also copy formatting and images for the entire document.
The call screening feature is like a spam filter for unwanted calls. It can answer calls, identify who is calling and why, and show you an on-screen transcription.
Don’t you hate it when movies have quiet dialogue and loud explosions? Audio Eraser can help with this – it can isolate voices and reduce background noise. Although the feature itself isn’t new, it’s now available for third-party apps like YouTube, Netflix, and Instagram.
The cameras also got cool new AI features. For example, Auto Framing uses the power of the phone to crop in 8K footage and automatically output a perfectly framed 4K video in real time.
It also has Super Steady Video, which offers 360° horizontal lock like action cameras. In short, no matter how you rotate the phone, the horizon will remain flat in the video. For selfies, there is an advanced AI ISP with object-aware engine.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ (also S26 Ultra) will be available starting March 11, with pre-orders starting today. See prices below – for prices in more areas, visit our pricing details. We’ve included the launch prices of last year’s S25 series for comparison.
And don’t miss our hands-on with the Galaxy S26 and S26+ (and of course the S26 Ultra, too).
| 12GB/256GB | 12GB/512GB | 16GB/1TB | |
| Galaxy S25 | €960 | €1,080 | – |
| Galaxy S26 | €1,000 | €1,200 | – |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galaxy S25+ | €1,170 | €1,290 | – |
| Galaxy S26+ | €1,250 | €1,450 | – |
| Galaxy S25 Ultra | €1,470 | €1,590 | €1,830 |
| Galaxy S26 Ultra | €1,450 | €1,650 | €1,950 |
Samsung Galaxy S26 5G
| 256GB 12GB RAM | $899.99 |
$899.99 |
| 512GB 12GB RAM | $899.99 |
$1,099.99 |
| Show all prices | ||
Samsung Galaxy S26+ 5G
| 256GB 12GB RAM | $1,099.99 |
$1,099.99 |
| 512GB 12GB RAM | $1,099.99 |
$1,299.99 |
| Show all prices | ||
