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Introduction and Specifications
With the Galaxy S26 Ultra review and Galaxy S26 Plus review out of the way, it’s time to turn our attention to the regular Galaxy S26, which is one of the more compact flagship phones out there, especially in some markets like the US.
However, for another year, the Galaxy S series gets minor upgrades, so we don’t expect any surprises with the vanilla S26.
On the other hand, the vanilla Galaxy S26 definitely gets some additional upgrades over the Galaxy S26 Plus. In addition to the annual chipset upgrade, we also get a larger 4,300 mAh battery, which may be a slight jump from last year’s 4,000 mAh, but it’s still more than what the S26 Plus got from Santa.
Speaking of chipset upgrades, Samsung has returned to its dual-chip strategy after pausing for the Galaxy S25 family last year. In markets outside the United States, China, and South Korea, the regular S26 and Galaxy S26+ (Like our review units) Use the latest Exynos 2600 SoC. We’re going to see how it stacks up against last year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite silicon and the S26 Ultra’s SD 8 Elite Gen 5.
And finally, another minute change to the Galaxy S26 is the display size, which has now grown to 6.3″ from last year’s 6.2″. However, fancy features like anti-reflective DX coating and privacy display remain ultra-exclusive.
Samsung Galaxy S26 specs at a glance:
- Body: 149.6×71.7×7.2 mm, 167 g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminum frame; IP68 dust-proof and water-resistant (submersible up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes), armor aluminum 2 frame.
- Display: 6.30″ Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits (peak), 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 411ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8850-AC Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen5 (3 nm) – US/CN, Exynos 2600 (2 nm) – Rest of the World (and our review unit): Octa-core (2×4.74 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix L + 6×3.62 GHz Oryon V3 Phoenix M) – US/CN, 10-core (1×3.80 GHz C1-Ultra and 3×3.25GHz C1-Pro and 6×2.75GHz C1-Pro) – row; Adreno 840 – US/CN, Xclipse 960 – Line.
- Memory: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.x
- OS/Software: Android 16, up to 7 major Android upgrades, One UI 8.5.
- rear camera: wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; telephoto: 10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm, 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom; ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚, 1/2.55″ 1.4µm, Super Steady Video.
- Front Camera: 12 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/3.2″, 1.12µm, Dual Pixel PDAF.
- video capture: rear camera: 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps, 10-bit HDR, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS; front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4300mAh; 25W wired, PD3.0, 55% in 30 minutes, 15W wireless (Qi2 ready), 4.5W reverse wireless.
- Connectivity: 5G; é SIM; Wi-Fi 7; BT 5.4; NFC.
- various: Fingerprint reader (under the display, ultrasonic); stereo speakers; Samsung DX, Samsung Wireless DX (desktop experience support).
As far as the rest of the hardware is concerned, it remains largely the same. The main camera is still 50MP, joined by a 10MP 3x telephoto unit and a 12MP ultrawide unit. The device also relies on 25W wired and 15W wireless charging as before.
To make up for the lack of hardware upgrades, Samsung is putting its efforts towards Galaxy AI and improving the software experience overall.
Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S26
The Galaxy S26 comes in a standard retail box, which only contains a quick start guide as well as a USB-C to USB-C cable for data transfer and charging.
There’s no charger in the box, and since this phone is rated to charge at a maximum of 25W, practically any USB-PD charger will work fine.