5 reasons to buy the Galaxy S26 and 3 reasons not to
The Galaxy S26 series is official and currently up for pre-order, but before the official release, there’s one big question to ask yourself: should you buy the Galaxy S26? Well, the answer depends on what you want and the phone you’re upgrading to, so it’s not an easy “Yes” or “No.”
Having already had some hands-on time with each phone, this is my own understanding and thoughts on the S26 series and why you should or shouldn’t buy them.
Why you should buy the Galaxy S26
These are the top five reasons I found the Galaxy S26 series to be a must-buy:
The article continues below
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
The Snapdragon 8 Elite was already a powerful chipset, made even more powerful by the Galaxy variant. However, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, launched in September of last year, promises a 20% increase in performance over its predecessor, including improved graphics and better CPU and GPU performance.
You can take a look at our Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 comparison, which shows how big a leap it represents, especially in single-core performance.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy takes that a step further, as both Qualcomm and Samsung are collaborating on a chip to “enhance the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy for the latest Galaxy AI experiences.” So not only will you get amazing performance in daily tasks and games, but the chip should enable amazing AI performance in the device.
Privacy Screen
The Privacy Display is one of the most impressive hardware features introduced with the Galaxy S26 series. The way it works is that it can hide the contents of your display when viewed from the side, meaning you won’t have to worry about onlookers seeing your spicy photos or messages. Think of it as a built-in privacy screen protector for your Samsung phone.
However, this is actually more granular than that, because unlike a privacy screen saver, which is always on, Privacy Screen is customizable. You can configure it to only activate when you open certain apps or when you receive notifications, that way the entire display is visible next to the notification itself.
This is because the Privacy Screen works at the pixel level, which allows more control over how it works. The downside is that this feature is only available on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which means you have to get a higher-end model.
The days of AI
Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 of the Galaxy, the Galaxy S26 series has great potential, especially when it comes to AI. For example, Gemini can handle tasks for you, like online shopping or ordering an Uber, without you needing to do much of anything. And just before the end of the process, it will ask you to confirm any purchase to ensure that everything is done correctly.
Now Nudge is another example of how AI is starting to work. Similar to Magic Cue on the Pixel 10 series, Now Nudge can reveal information based on the context of what you’re doing. If someone sends you a message asking for the address of an event you’re going to or photos you took during a trip to Australia, Now Nudge will pop up with a specified address based on your calendar events or a button that will take you directly to a set of photos taken in Australia. This way, you don’t have to dig for information or pictures; the AI does it for you.
The Galaxy S26 series also comes with tons of new AI editing features, which make it easy to use artificial intelligence to change image features, add features from one image to another, and so on. Think of it as Samsung’s version of Ask Photos in the Google Photos app, making it natural to edit a photo, especially if you don’t know how to edit or enhance it yourself.
Lots of storage
The base S series phone has been stuck at 128GB of storage for years now. However, we are getting to the point where that is no longer enough for a premium mobile phone. Fortunately, Samsung has heard our pleas and increased the basic storage on the Galaxy S26.
Now, you have 256GB of storage space to start with, and that’s before any upgrades. In fact, if you try to pre-order the Galaxy S26 series, you can grab the base model in 512GB for the same price you would pay for the 256GB model.
Battery and charging upgrade
Samsung has been remarkably cautious about their batteries and charging speeds, which means we haven’t seen the needle move much in recent years. However, that is finally changing this year, as Samsung has increased the battery size and charging speed in the Galaxy S26 series, but not all models have received the same upgrade.
For example, the Galaxy S26 has bumped up to 4,300mAh, up from 4,000mAh in the Galaxy S25, but without a change in charging speed. The Galaxy S26 Plus has received an increase in wireless charging speed from 15W to 20W, but battery capacity and wired charging remain the same.
Finally, the Galaxy S26 Ultra has received quite a few changes, with an increase in wireless charging speed from 45W to 60W, which Samsung says should charge the phone’s 5,000mAh battery to 75% in just 30 minutes. Additionally, the S26 Ultra now supports Qi2 wireless charging speeds of up to 25W, which is a significant jump from 15W.
That said, you’ll still need a case to take advantage of the Qi2’s magnetic charging.
Who should buy the Galaxy S26?
If you’re someone who doesn’t upgrade often and has a model that’s at least two or three years old, the Galaxy S26 is probably a good buy. Privacy Screen is already an attractive feature for those who like to keep private lives.
The chipset upgrade is also a good reason, and if you want the latest AI features and software capabilities, these are the phones for you. Additionally, the promise of extended software updates means that once you own these phones, you’ll be set for seven years, assuming the chipset and battery can last that long.
Why you shouldn’t buy the Galaxy S26
Well, there are several reasons why you might want to think twice about buying the Galaxy S26 series, depending on your needs:
The price is going up
The Galaxy S26 series comes with many improvements, but that means they will also come with a price hike. Samsung has managed to keep prices the same since the Galaxy S21 series, with only the S24 Ultra getting a price hike. How, base and Add-ons get price increases.
Both models now cost $100 more than their predecessors. That means the base starts at $899 while the Plus starts at $1,099. Is it right for you? Does this push you away from the Galaxy S26 series, or perhaps closer to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, as the gap between it and the Plus has narrowed?
Cameras haven’t changed much
Unfortunately, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the only model that received any significant changes to the cameras. The 200MP main camera and 50MP telephoto camera both have wide apertures, which means they should be better at handling low-light situations. However, the rest of the camera specifications have not changed.
That goes for the base and Plus models, too, which didn’t get the same aperture changes as the Ultra (or any sensor changes, for that matter), so you don’t get the benefit of better low-light video or photography. It almost makes the price hike feel unfair.
On the other hand, Samsung says that images should improve now that it has switched from a hardware-based ISP to an AI-based one. In addition, it also applied its AI ISP to the selfie camera, which means that the selfie quality should improve. Let’s just hope it’s enough.
Not the battery improvement we expected
While we’re happy to see any improvements in battery capacity and/or charging speed on Samsung phones, it still feels like Samsung is lagging behind. The Galaxy S26 Ultra retains its 5,000mAh battery, which is typical from Chinese OEMs that push beyond 6,000mAh and up to 9,000mAh or more.
Samsung’s reluctance to use silicon-carbon batteries is becoming more apparent as consumers demand longer battery life from their smartphones. The same goes for charging speeds, Samsung is behind even Motorola, offering 68W charging on the Razr Ultra 2025 and 90W charging on the Motorola Signature.
Who should not buy the Galaxy S26
If you have Samsung’s latest flagships, like the Galaxy S25 and S24, or the Pixel 10, I see little reason to jump to the S26 series, unless you really want that Privacy Screen. Also, if you don’t mind having all the latest AI features, the Galaxy S26 series is probably not worth the splurge, especially given the recent price hikes for the base and Plus models.
If you’re looking for a phone with great cameras, long battery life, and fast charging, there are plenty of options from companies other than Samsung, Apple, and Google.
