Consensus of 5 reviews from 3 independent publishers. TechRadar and Android Central and Tom's Guide (all Future plc) count as one voice. How this is calculated.
consensus 76
Tom's Guide78
Tech Advisor77
Digital Trends75
Android Central75
TechRadar75
657075808590
Each dot is one review, adjusted for how that publication usually scores; the line is our consensus. The closer the dots sit to the line, the more the reviewers agree.
Photos belong to the publications credited; each links to the full review.
display901 source
Key specs
Released
March 2026
Launch price (US)
$1,099
Launch price (UK)
£1,099
Form factor
Standard
OS
Android
Display
6.7″
Main camera
50 MP
Telephoto lens
Yes
Battery
4,900 mAh
Wired charging
45 W
Chipset
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy
Base storage
256 GB
Weight
190 g
Water resistance
IP68
Software updates
7 years
Sold in
US, UK, China
What the reviewers said
Digital Trends US
8/10Apr 14, 2026
A competent, polished middle-child Plus model that looks and feels nearly identical to its predecessor and lacks a clear reason to choose it over the Ultra.
Excellent, bright QHD+ AMOLED display
Strong performance for everyday and gaming use
Good battery life
Polished One UI 8.5 software with fluid animations
Almost no design or feature innovation over predecessor
Camera island change adds wobble and breaks old cases
A perfectly good phone with a great screen and performance, but a narrow audience. Price hikes and Ultra-exclusive upgrades make it hard to recommend over the base S26 or Ultra.
Excellent, bright display with strong color accuracy
Great performance and effective AI features
Good Samsung portrait handling for glasses-wearers
Higher price than the predecessor
Camera hardware carried over, outdated telephoto and ultrawide
Standard S26 offers same performance and AI for less
Ultra offers better photos, battery and Privacy Display
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.
