Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus hands-on review: Is it really safe to play?
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Today’s Galaxy Unpacked show saw Samsung pull back the curtain on its latest series of smartphonesGalaxy S26 series – and I have concerns. The Galaxy S26 seemed poised to replace its predecessor as the best compact phone on the market but, after being unveiled, I’m not sure that will be the case.
To be clear, there is still a lot of quality here: the design is as simple as ever, it shines well in the hand, the cameras are solid and the hardware suggests that both the performance and the battery will not, at least, not disappoint. The only problem is that both the Petite S26 and its larger sibling – the S26 Plus – feel very different from their 2025 counterparts.
Our full review may prove they’re more valuable than the paper suggests – and our brief interaction with them at launch – but, for now, the Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus feel on the safe side.
Samsung Galaxy S26: Specifications, price and release date
- 6.3in, 2,340 x 1,080, 120Hz, LTPO AMOLED display
- 3.8GHz Samsung Exynos 2600
- 12GB RAM
- 256GB or 512GB of storage
- Rear cameras: 50MP (f/1.8); 10MP (f/2.4) 3x telephoto; 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide
- Selfie camera: 12MP (f/2.2)
- 4,300mAh battery
- 25W wired and 25W wireless charging
- IP68 dust and water resistance
- 72 x 7.2 x 150mm
- Weight: 167g
- Colors: Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, White, Black
- Exclusive colors online: Silver Shadow, Pink Gold
- UK price: £879 (256GB); £1,049 (512GB)
- UK release date: 11 March 2026; pre-order now from Samsung
Samsung Galaxy S26 hands-on: Design, key new features and first impressions
The first thing I want to talk about here is how much more expensive the Galaxy S26 is than its predecessor. There are two configurations of the phone and each is more expensive than the corresponding S25 model from last year. 256GB is £20 more, at £879, while the 512GB model sees a £90 price increase, jumping from £959 to £1,049.
The biggest blow to the purchase, however, is the removal of the entry-level 128GB model. This means the cheapest Galaxy S26 (£879) is £80 cheaper Galaxy S25 (£799 128GB model).
This may speak to the popularity of higher storage models, which are fine in their own right – Apple has also dropped the 128GB version of the iPhone 17but instead of increasing the asking price, it simply doubled the storage and kept the same £799 price tag. With Google Pixel 10 and starting at £799, this huge price jump throws Samsung firmly into contention in the affordable flagship stakes, at least for the first few months of its life.
On the plus side, the design is still surprisingly light and compact – a huge selling point for this line. It measures 7.2mm thick and weighs 167g with air. The AMOLED display is slightly larger this year, at 6.3in, but that doesn’t significantly contribute to the phone feeling larger or larger in the hand. Otherwise, the display is very similar to last year, with a resolution of 2,340 x 1,080, a dynamic refresh rate of 120Hz and a maximum brightness of 2,600 nits.
The cameras are also completely unchanged: there is a 12-megapixel selfie shooter above the display and three lenses arranged like robots on the back, with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 10-megapixel 3x telephoto.
Some areas are getting new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 of the Galaxy platform but we in Europe will have our Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus models equipped with the Exynos 2600. This 10-core chipset is clocked at 3.8GHz, which is a significant drop from the 4.74GHz maximum clock speed of the Snapdragon chip used in the Ultra, and may show more of the performance differentiation that you usually see in Samsung’s models.
In addition, the Exynos 2600 has a much lower clock speed than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Galaxy chipset used in last year’s Galaxy S25 series (4.47GHz). Granted, that was an octa-core chip, but will the two extra cores be enough to bridge that gap, or will we see a sharp dip in performance this generation?
Joining the Exynos inside the S26 is 12GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage, and a 4,300mAh battery – slightly larger than the S25’s 4,000mAh cell. Wired charging is the same as 25W but wireless has improved, at least, it now supports the 25W Qi2.2 standard.
The color scheme is the same for all three Galaxy S devices this year: Black, White, Cobalt Violet and Sky Blue will be widely available, while Silver Shadow and Pink Gold will be available exclusively on Samsung.com. All the colors look nice enough, but my favorite has to be the sky blue – it adds a little more interest than the white or black models without overdoing the bling. Until you squeeze it into a case, that is.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus hands-on: Super-size me
After flirting with the idea of ditching the Plus model altogether in favor of the new format, with last year’s tried-and-tested tough leather. Galaxy S25 EdgeSamsung quickly backtracked on poor sales, and the Galaxy S26 Plus was called back.
This is, for the most part, just a larger version of the standard Galaxy S26, which is almost identical.
The display is big: a 6.7in AMOLED panel with a sharp 3,120 x 1,440 resolution. The body measures 76 x 7.3 x 158mm (WDH) and weighs 190g. Tucked into the main body is a larger 4,900mAh lithium-ion battery, and there’s 45W fast wired charging to keep you juiced up.
This quirky middle child isn’t immune to price rises, either: the 256GB model will cost £1,099: that’s £100 more than the Galaxy S25 Plus it’s also launched the same as the interim Edge model, while the 512GB version is £1,269, up from last year’s £1,099.
Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus hands-on: Galaxy AI
The Samsung Galaxy AI suite of features has grown a bit this year, adding the likes of AI call testing, deep personalization for Now Brief and Now Bar and the new Now Nudge.
The latter is Samsung’s take on Google’s Magic Cue, presenting relevant information to keep you switching between apps – the example given was showing booking information when someone asked about it in text.
You also get expanded creative features built into the AI-driven photography toolkit in this generation of Galaxy phones. As well as being able to remove unwanted people and objects from your photos, this enables you to get more creative, adding and changing important features instead.
At the launch event, I took a selfie, changed the background and then asked the Galaxy AI to turn this into an anime-style photo, which a helpful Samsung employee then printed for me. All very clever stuff, and I was happy with the results (see below), but I can’t help but think this is one of those features you’ll try once or twice when you get the phone and then forget about it.
Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus hands-on: Early verdict
As much as I recently applauded the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra for not feeling static, I can’t say the same for the other two S models. There are nips and tucks here and there, and the results still feel polished, but not much feels like it needs improvement. Little is still being considered for price increases.
I might end up being surprised when I take them both in for testing – Samsung is a firm hand at smartphone manufacturing after all, and even its lower models tend to deliver good results in one way or another, but as things stand right now, I’m not too impressed.
We’ll be doing both in our rigorous testing program soon, so be sure to check back to find out our final verdict on the Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus.
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