A compact flagship that does everything in a calm and sedate manner!!
Compact flagship smartphones are one of the main points of attraction for consumers in the market who want flagship-level specifications in a compact form factor, making them easy to carry around. Many brands like Apple and Samsung have nailed it with compact flagships that have been going strong and account for a huge chunk of sales. This year, the Samsung S26 series has its most compact offering in the form of the Galaxy S26.
The Galaxy S26 series also brings three models to the table, which include the most compact Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26 Plus, and the massive Galaxy S26 Ultra (Review). The Galaxy S26 Ultra is the biggest model of the three, which brings flagship specifications, along with the Privacy Display feature, and has set the momentum out there. The Galaxy S26 and the Galaxy S26 Plus are no different, as both carry almost similar characteristics but target different audiences.
The Galaxy S26 brings flagship-level specifications like a 120Hz AMOLED display, a solid triple camera setup, Samsung's own Exynos 2600 chipset, and a 4300mAh battery and much more. When compared to its predecessor, i.e. Galaxy S25, there are some very minor upgrades. So can this compact flagship deliver the same as its elder sibling, the Galaxy S26 Ultra, did? Would you consider one of them?
Let's find out in the full review.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Design:
In terms of build and design, there are no significant changes noticed on the Galaxy S26 when compared to its predecessor, i.e. Galaxy S25, except that the triple cameras on the back are placed on a cylindrical module and beside it lies the LED flashlight. All three cameras are surrounded by metallic rings, which look premium. The back has a frosted matte finish that provides solid grip while holding in hands and does not catch many fingerprints and smudges.
On the front as well as on the back, the panels are flatter. The camera module does protrude slightly, so the smartphone does wobble when kept on a flat surface. The smartphone is rounded around the edges, which fits in the hands comfortably. Just like the Galaxy S25, the side frame is made of Armour Aluminium 2, which feels solid and looks premium.
Around the sides, the smartphone is thinner at 7.2mm, which is one of the slimmest compact flagships in its segment and houses the power button along with the volume buttons on the right side, whereas the left side remains completely cleaner. On top, there is a secondary noise-cancelling microphone with a secondary speaker. At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grille, a dual SIM card slot that houses two physical SIM cards, and a primary microphone.
There is neither a 3.5mm headphone jack nor an microSD card slot for storage expansion, which would not matter much since the base variant of the Galaxy S26 now ships with 256GB storage out of the box. In terms of weight distribution, the Galaxy S26 weighs around 167 grams, making it 5grams heavier than the weight of the Galaxy S25, as the former now packs a slightly larger battery.
The Galaxy S26 is available in four different colours: Cobalt Violet, Sky Blue, Black, White, Silver Shadow, and Pink. In terms of ingress protection, the Galaxy S26 has an IP68 rating, which makes it dust- and water-resistant, but it is still not the best protection when you compare it with smartphones that come with an IP69 rating and are priced much lower than the Galaxy S26.
On the front, the display size has been increased from 6.2 inches on the Galaxy S25 to 6.3 inches on the Galaxy S26. The display has a flat panel with minimal bezels around, making it look premium. The punch-hole camera is in the middle at the top, which houses the front selfie camera.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Display:
The Galaxy S26 sports a 6.3-inches Full HD+(1080x2340 pixels) 2X Dynamic AMOLED display with a screen-to-body ratio of 19.5:9. Since it is an AMOLED display from Samsung, the colours look punchier with deeper blues and blacks and have great viewing angles. However, this display is an 8-bit panel which produces 16.7 million colours, which is disappointing considering smartphones priced lower than this have a 10-bit panel.
Unlike the Galaxy S26 Ultra, here there is no Privacy Display feature, which clearly separates this smartphone from the more premium Galaxy S26 Ultra, which may not be a concern to many people out there. Just like the Galaxy S25, the display has support for 120Hz refresh rate. Talking about the refresh rate, there are two different options to choose from: Standard and Adaptive.
Since this is an LTPO panel, the refresh rate ranges from 1Hz to 120Hz depending on the content, with the display set to Adaptive. For example, while watching a 60fps video on YouTube, the display refreshes at 60Hz; while playing games like BGMI, it switches to 120Hz; and when idle, it switches to 1Hz. With the display set to Standard, the display refreshes at 60Hz only, and this provides solid battery life.
Combined with the 120Hz refresh rate, there is a 240Hz touch sampling rate also. In terms of display brightness, the panel of the Galaxy S26 can reach a peak brightness of 2600nits which is identical to the figures on the Galaxy S25, but with the High Brightness Mode turned on, the display reaches a brightness of 1600nits which is good and under direct sunlight, the brightness hovers around 1800 nits, thus ensuring good visibility under direct sunlight.
However, there is no anti-reflective coating and PwM dimming, both of which are present on the more expensive Galaxy S26 Ultra. In terms of display colour options, there are two different settings to choose from - Natural and Vivid. Setting the display to Natural mode provides colours which look close to natural without much boost in colours, thus covering the sRGB colour space, whereas switching the display to Vivid provides punchier colours, thus covering the DCI-P3 gamut scale.
You can set the display to a warmer or a cooler tone using the temperature slider. In terms of multimedia experience, the display of the Galaxy S26 has support for HDR so you can stream HDR content on YouTube, and the presence of Widevine L1 ensures HDR streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime, etc., but there is no support for Dolby Vision, which maybe Samsung fixes with a future software update.
In terms of display protection, the front display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is a slight downgrade compared to Gorilla Glass Armour protection on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The display of the Galaxy S26 houses an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner that works accurately and is very fast. Overall, the display is great for multimedia consumption except for the lack of Dolby Vision and a 10-bit panel.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Performance:
Unlike the Galaxy S25 launched last year, which was powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, with the Galaxy S26, Samsung has made a comeback with its in-house chipset, i.e. Exynos. So as a result, the Galaxy S26 is powered by the latest and greatest Exynos 2600 chipset, which is based on an efficient 2nm process, which seems much more power efficient. This same chipset does duty on the Galaxy S26 Plus also.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset is reserved for the Galaxy S26 Ultra only, which is built on a 3nm process. The Exynos 2600 chipset is based on a deca-core configuration that has 1x3.80 GHz C1-Ultra core, which is the primary one, and along with that, there are 3x3.25GHz C1-Pro cores and another 6x2.75GHz C1-Pro efficient cores for power efficiency. This chipset is coupled with a powerful Xclipse 960 GPU under the hood.
So when you compare the performance of the Exynos 2600 chipset with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, in terms of daily tasks like switching between applications, scrolling through webpages, playing games, etc. there is not much of a difference, but still, when it comes to raw gaming for longer hours, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset with its Adreno GPU does outperform the Exynos 2600 chipset and laos has better thermals.
Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset present on the Galaxy S25, the Exynos 2600 provides 10% more in terms of power efficiency and performance. In terms of benchmarks, the Exynos 2600 chipset on the Galaxy S26 scored well, but the figures are still lower than those of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset present on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Still, there is not much of a difference between the two chipsets in terms of daily usage.
In terms of daily usage, which includes tasks like scrolling through webpages, streaming social media, playing games, etc., all feel smooth without breaking a sweat thanks to the smoother transitions and animations with One UI 8.5. In terms of gaming, all heavy games like Call of Duty Mobile, BGMI, Genshin Impact, etc., ran smoothly at the highest graphics settings with very few frame drops noticed.
In BGMI, with the frame rates set to Smooth and graphics set to Ultra, we noticed 100-110fps most of the time during gameplay, except for a few occasions where 120fps was noticed. In Genshin Impact, there were frame drops noticed consistently at the highest graphics, but when the graphics were set to Medium, the gameplay was smoother. There is no dedicated frame interpolation as such, which clearly shows that it is not for hardcore gaming.
After longer hours of gaming, i.e., 3-4 hours continuously, the back of the smartphone feels warmer, and the heat is noticeable around the camera module. There is a dedicated vapour-cooling chamber that dissipates heat, but the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 still has better thermal performance. In terms of the CPU throttling test, the smartphone provides a sustained performance of around 65-70 percent with thermal throttling noticed.
The Galaxy S26 is available in two storage variants - 12GB RAM with 256/512GB storage, where storage speeds are UFS 4.0, and RAM is LPDDR5X. Samsung has ditched the 128GB storage variant this time, and the base model starts with 256GB storage.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Software:
The Galaxy S26 series runs on the latest One UI 8.5 based on Android 16 out of the box, and here it is no different with the Galaxy S26. Just like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, you get all the full-fledged features of Galaxy AI and a lot of customisations. The only thing you miss here is the S-Pen-related features since there is no S-Pen support on the Galaxy S26. The quick settings panel looks newer and can accommodate more icons, which are inspired by iOS 26-like design.
OneUI 8.5 brings a lot to the table, where you can do a lot of customisations to icons' shape, size, colour and change different fonts also. The lockscreen and Always-On display are well integrated together, with the Always-On display providing different themes. Some of the useful AI features include the Now Nudge, Call Assist, Note Assist, Interpreter, an improved version of Bixby, Creative Studio, Audio Eraser, etc., which come in handy daily.
The Now Nudge feature is an interesting feature which is an AI feature that analyses the screen context in real time to suggest different shortcuts and suggestions on a proactive basis. For example, if a friend asks for some photos after a certain trip over WhatsApp, the AI automatically retrieves those photos from the gallery application and shares them instantly with friends, which feels much handier. Call Assist helps screen calls, translate the conversations in real time and transcribe voice notes.
While taking notes, the Note Assist summarises the notes and provides everything in a cleaner format. It generates text transcripts from different recordings and then summarises them and adds them to the notes. Interpreter lets you translate the spoken words in the language of your choice and displays them on a split-screen so that both users can read the translation in their own language. Bixby is now well integrated with Galaxy AI, thus performing real-time actions in the user interface.
Creative Studio helps you generate brand new images from different sketches, create custom stickers, and design personalised wallpapers through texts, sketches or existing images. Photo Assist lets you edit photos in the gallery application, where features like AI Eraser let you remove unwanted objects in the images, you can move or resize objects in the image, and Portrait Studio turns an image into a sketch, watercolour, cartoon, or 3D art.
Now Bar and Now Brief are also part of the user interface, as always. Circle To Search is present, which lets you circle a particular object in the gallery, and it retrieves information regarding it from the web in terms of images or details, and now it works for multiple objects. Audio Eraser works flawlessly in video-based applications, such as while watching Instagram Reels, YouTube videos, etc., where you can reduce background noise in videos for a richer experience.
Other features include the Samsung DeX, which works well where you can pair a Samsung smartphone with a tablet or PC and use the smartphone content on those easily. Knox Security is present for an added layer of safety. Secure Folder provides enhanced security where you can use your fingerprint for accessing photos, videos, etc. There is very little bloatware present and a lot of Samsung-based third-party applications, some of which can be uninstalled.
In terms of software updates, the Samsung S series has an excellent track record of software updates and just like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the Galaxy S26 will also receive another seven major Android OS updates and security patches, making it the best in terms of software support in the smartphone industry alongside the Pixel devices.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Cameras:
The Galaxy S26 sports the identical camera setup as that of its predecessor, i.e., the Galaxy S25. The Galaxy S26 has a 50MP f/1.8 ISOCELL GN3 sensor for the primary camera with support for OIS, a 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera and a 10MP f/2.4 telephoto camera with support for 3x optical zoom and OIS. On the front, there is a 12MP f/2.2 camera for selfies. This is very disappointing for Samsung users as this camera setup remains the same from the last 3-4 generations of the S-lineup.
During the day, the images from the primary camera come out with sharper details, a wider dynamic range and less noise in the background. The colours look natural without any kind of oversharpening as such. The white balance is handled very well, and contrast is on the higher side. When using the Photo Mode, the images are generated at 12MP by default, and there is a 50MP dedicated one for images.
The images shot using the dedicated 50MP mode result in sharper details with good dynamic range and have less noise in the background. It is just that details do look softer than the regular 12MP images, and colours look too much saturated at times. The 2x zoomed images from the primary camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background.
The colours look saturated without any kind of oversharpening, as such, in the background. Similarly, during the night, the images from the primary camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background. The colours look natural, and the details in shadows come out really well. The exposure is well handled in very low-light areas and offers good contrast.
All these results are captured with the Auto Night Mode, which gets triggered automatically if you take the camera in the dark. So all these results were captured with the Auto Night Mode. If you turn off the Night Mode manually, the results are not much different, as you still get excellent details that look sharper but not as sharp as with the Auto Night Mode turned on, but you get a wider dynamic range with natural colours in the background.
However, the noise is on the slightly higher side. The 2x zoomed images taken from the primary camera during the night come out with sharper details, a wider dynamic range, and less noise in the background. The colour tones look warmer, though, but there is some oversharpening that does take place in the background. The 12MP ultrawide camera does a good job in terms of images taken during the daylight, which come out with sharper details and a wider dynamic range.
The colours look saturated with no oversharpening in the background. The noise is slightly on the higher side, though. This ultrawide camera lacks autofocus, so you cannot use it for macro shots. At night, the ultrawide camera does a good job in terms of images, which come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with saturated colours. There is some amount of oversharpening taking place in the background, and noise is also on the higher side.
The 3x telephoto camera captures some very good images, which come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background. The colours look oversaturated at times, but still you get natural-looking colours which match the primary camera output. Around 5x zoom, the details look sharper with saturated colours and less noise in the background. Beyond 5x zoom, i.e. 10x or 20x zoom, the results are not so good.
At night, the images from the 3x telephoto camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background. The colours look saturated without any kind of oversharpening in the background. All these results are captured with the Auto Night Mode turned on. Without the Auto Night Mode, the details look sharper, but there is some oversharpening in the background and noise is noticed slightly on the higher side.
In terms of portraits, the primary camera can take 1x and 2x level portraits, which come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range. The human skin tones look natural with slightly warmer tones at times. The edge detection is good, and the level of background blur is well implemented. The 3x telephoto camera also captures sharper portrait images with proper edge detection and a good level of background blur with a wider dynamic range.
On the front, the 12MP camera does a good job in terms of selfies, which come out with sharper details, a wider dynamic range and less noise in the background. The selfies do have a wider field of view, though. The human skin tones look natural without any kind of oversharpening in the background. The contrast is on the higher side, but the white balance is handled very well. Even portrait selfies come out with good edge detection and background blur.
In terms of videos, all three cameras at the back as well as the front can record 4K videos at 60fps. The primary camera can record 8K videos at 30fps also. Unlike the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which has support for 4K video recording at 120fps, this one does not get that. The 4K videos at 60fps from the primary camera provide sharper details with a wider dynamic range and less noise in the background.
The colours look saturated without any kind of oversharpening in the background. At 4K resolution, the EIS kicks in, thus reducing some noise to an extent. Switching the camera to 1080p video recording at 60fps, the videos come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with almost no noise in the background, as the Ultra Steady Mode, along with OIS, works the best in masking out noise. Even the colours look saturated with no oversharpening as such.
In low light or at night, the videos come out with sharper details, with good dynamic range and less noise in the background. The colours look saturated with no oversharpening as such. In 8K or 4K videos, there is some noise clearly present, whereas 1080p videos shot at night have excellent results. The videos from the ultrawide camera come out with sharper details and have a wider dynamic range with less noise in the background during the day.
In low light, the videos from the ultrawide camera do result in softer details with decent dynamic range, and noise is on the higher side also. The telephoto camera does an excellent job in terms of videos where details look sharper with a wider dynamic range and less noise in the background. The colours look saturated with no oversharpening in the background as such. During the night, the videos come out with sharper details and have saturated colours in the background.
Though there is some noise present on the higher side, you would not notice much as the OIS work well. The videos from the front camera come out with sharper details, with decent dynamic range, and skin tones also look natural without any kind of oversharpening. There is some amount of noise present in the background, but still EIS works at its best in removing the noise in the background.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Battery Life:
In terms of battery capacity, the Galaxy S26 gets an upgrade here as it sports a 4300mAh battery, which is 300mAh more in capacity compared to the Galaxy S25, which comes with a 4000mAh battery. Still, this battery capacity is very low when compared to other flagship smartphones out there. Since the Exynos 2600 is based on an efficient 2nm process and with the OneUI 8.5 on board, we do expect some better improvements in battery life.
In terms of normal usage, which includes scrolling through webpages, streaming social media, and other lighter tasks, the Galaxy S26 easily lasted for one and a half days to two days with some charge left. The standard screen-on time came around 7.5-8 hours, which is good and slightly better than the figures obtained on the Galaxy S25. With heavy usage, which includes playing games like BGMI for 3-4 hours, rendering videos, etc., the smartphone easily lasted for one and a half days.
The standard screen-on time came around 5-5.5 hours with heavy usage, which is quite good considering the Exynos 2600 chipset, which does throttle at times. In terms of charging speeds, there are no changes as the Galaxy S26 still relies on 25W fast charging speeds and 15W wireless charging speeds, along with 4.5W reverse wireless charging speeds. Just like each year, this time, the charger is also not bundled inside the box.
Using any third-party charger of 60W and higher still results in slow charging of the device, whereas if you use a Samsung proprietary charger of 25W, it takes the smartphone from 0 to 100 per cent in around 1 hour and 20 minutes, which is very time-consuming according to today's standards as flagships priced less than the Galaxy S26 have higher speeds of charging i.e. 65W/100W/125W. Even the Galaxy S26+ supports 45W fast charging, with the Galaxy S26 Ultra supporting 60W charging speeds.
The wireless charging speeds are not the best either, as with any third-party 15W wireless charger, the smartphone takes around close to two hours for a full charge from 0 to 100 per cent. The reverse wireless charging does work well if you put any device supporting wireless charging on the back of the Galaxy S26; it will charge automatically at 4.5W. You do not have any magnetic support like MagSafe charging support for iPhones.
Samsung Galaxy S26 Audio Quality:
The Galaxy S26 has a dual stereo speaker setup, which provides good audio output combined with the loudspeaker at the bottom, along with the secondary speaker outlet on the top. The sound output is richer and provides better levels of bass and is slightly better than the outputs from the Galaxy S25. The presence of Dolby Atmos provides a richer sound experience while watching videos, listening to music, etc.
Verdict:
Overall, the Galaxy S26 feels like a perfect compact flagship that delivers all the necessities required in a smartphone while not creating much of a hype and rather plays it safe in the market out there. It boasts of a premium build and design, a great compact display with support for stereo speakers, flagship-level performance in all day-to-day activities, a reliable camera experience, good battery life with support for fast charging and an excellent software experience.
There are some areas where the Galaxy S26 could have been better. For instance, the design is nothing short of new as it brings a similar design except for the newer camera module, the display is an 8-bit panel instead of a 10-bit panel and does not have support for Dolby Vision also. The Exynos 2600, though efficient, struggles in terms of gaming when compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset found on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
Even in terms of thermals, the Exynos 2600 does become slightly warmer and throttle more when compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. The cameras still have not received an upgrade from the last three to four years, with the ultrawide camera performance coming to be average. Even the telephoto camera struggles quite a bit in terms of videos taken in low light. So clearly, with the newer chipset, Samsung has improved the image processing quite a bit, but still no significant changes.
The charging speeds are also the slowest when compared to other flagships from OnePlus, iQOO, etc., in this price segment and are way behind them in both wired and wireless standards. When you compare the Galaxy S26 with its predecessor or even the Galaxy S24 (Review), what you are getting extra is slightly better performance, battery life and more years of software support. Other than these, there are no such changes noticed, so if you consider these three factors, then you can upgrade to the Galaxy S26.
In my personal opinion, if you are someone who owns a Galaxy S25 or Galaxy S24, there is no scope for upgrading, as there are no such differences, as both are now selling at lower prices, making a value-for-money option there in the market. If you are using an older Samsung A series smartphone or an older S-lineup smartphone like the S21 or S22 series, then you can consider upgrading to the Galaxy S26. But as an overall package, this compact flagship brings the peace of the brand, while it may not be exciting.