What the reviewers said
TechRadar UK
4/5Aug 4, 2026A well-rounded, compact flagship with a great display and long battery life, but the price increase makes it worth buying only on sale.
- Long battery life, comfortably a full day
- Great-looking, bright 120Hz display
- Reliable camera setup
- Storage starts at 256GB
- Compact size with capable performance
- $100 price increase over the S25
- 25W wired charging is slow
- No internal magnets; full Qi2 needs a case
- Gets hot during intense tasks
- Side button layout is awkward for some users
Android Central US
3.5/5Apr 6, 2026A fast, solid phone with a bigger screen, but unchanged cameras, no Qi2 magnets and a higher price make it a tough sell.
- Larger 6.3-inch OLED screen with 120Hz refresh
- Bigger 4,300mAh battery
- Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 delivers strong performance and stability
- Clean One UI 8.5 software with useful AI features
- Daytime camera color and dynamic range improved
- Camera hardware unchanged from Galaxy S22 series
- Telephoto camera is soft and limited
- No Qi2 magnets; slow 25W wired and 15W wireless charging
- Missing mmWave 5G, UWB and Bluetooth 6
- Price up $100 over Galaxy S25 at launch
Tech Advisor UK
4/5Mar 31, 2026A refined, well-built compact flagship with excellent night photography and long software support, but held back by unpolished AI features, modest charging, and little change from the S25.
- Stunning compact, lightweight design
- Impressive night photography and colour handling
- Bright 120Hz display
- Decent battery life, nearly three days
- Seven years of OS and security updates
- Buggy software and unreliable AI editing
- Slow charging speeds, 25W wired
- No magnets for wireless charging without case
- Little upgrade over the Galaxy S25
- Close-up detail capture is weak
Dependable flagship with strong performance and screens, but few new features and a price increase make it unexciting.
- Great performance from Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Bright, colorful, and sharp screens
- Reliable triple-camera system
- Good battery life
- Long software support
- Not much new compared to last year
- Still no native Qi2 magnets
- Price increased by $100
- Lacks millimeter-wave 5G support on the S26
- Privacy Display limited to Ultra model
Tom's Guide US
4/5Mar 14, 2026A capable, lightweight flagship with strong display, gaming and new AI features, but the $100 price increase makes it a tough sell against rivals.
- Horizon Lock keeps video impressively level
- Larger and much brighter 6.3-inch display
- Excellent gaming performance with Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
- Helpful new Agentic AI features like Now Nudge
- Compact, lightweight design despite larger screen
- $100 price increase to $899
- Battery life shorter than predecessor in testing
- Largely unchanged camera performance
- Horizon Lock tops out at QHD resolution
The Verge US
7/10Mar 11, 2026Samsung's S26 and S26 Plus are competent but nearly identical to last year's phones, with little reason to upgrade and higher prices.
- Relatively compact size for a modern flagship
- Bigger battery than last year's S25
- Seven years of software updates
- Horizontal lock video stabilization is impressive for action footage
- Basic camera hardware unchanged for several years
- Not much has changed from previous generations
- No Qi2 magnetic charging in the phone
- Higher price than last year's models
Verdicts, pros and cons are short summaries in our words of each publisher's review; scores are as the publisher gave them. Specs are taken from the reviews' spec boxes — where they differ, we show the value most of them give; price is the US launch price of the base model. Read the originals for the full picture.
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