Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus review: More of | Tech News

Most smartphone corporations are going through the very same downside: it’s tough to make significant year-over-year upgrades on these gadgets. Companies like Nothing have determined to not release a flagship telephone in 2026. But that is Samsung, and like clockwork, listed here are the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus, and like clockwork, they’re extremely just like the Galaxy S25.

And the S24, and the S23, and even the S22 in phrases of design, battery and digicam specs. If you improve to 1 of these telephones from an S22 then I’m not saying you gained’t discover a good enhance in efficiency, improved construct high quality and software program perks. But the essential expertise could be very comparable. Samsung has not made huge strides with its digicam technology the place Android rivals reminiscent of Google, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Vivo are basing their best telephones round improved cameras.

The S26 and S26 Plus are secure bets. They have tried and examined type components with excellent 6.3-inch and 6.7-inch 120Hz OLEDs respectively, and designs refined to the purpose of being generic. If you requested AI to attract you a 3D model of a smartphone, it might most likely appear to be this.

The triple cameras on the rear are the one issues that interrupt a glass-backed slab, although I have to say the matte end could be very good and stops mucky fingerprints from making a mess of the styling. I favor the small measurement of the common S26, which stays one of the one actually one-handed premium telephones you’ll be able to buy.

That premium will value you although, with the S26 beginning at £879, an £80 rise from final yr’s S25. Granted, this now baggage you 256GB of storage, however that’s a lot of money. If you favor a bigger screen and battery and sooner charging at 45W as an alternative of 25W, the S26 Plus, which is identically designed, prices £100 more than final yr at £1,099 for 256GB.

That’s the identical price because the 256GB iPhone 17 Pro, Apple’s top-of-the-line iPhone. But Samsung will charge you a whopping £1,279 for the Galaxy S26 Ultra if you’d like its final telephone this yr. My colleague Dave Snelling reviewed that telephone, which has higher cameras and bigger battery, plus the S Pen stylus and a new Privacy Display that these cheaper S26s lack.

But I’m right here to see if there’s worth within the S26 and S26 Plus. I do perceive that, as a telephone reviewer, I’m going to see more similarities in these annual updates in comparison with customers who simply wish to know if these telephones are good or not. So yes, they’re good. But Samsung is clearly coasting right here, and these are lazy upgrades.

Samsung has given these telephones Qi wi-fi charging help, however has not opted so as to add Qi2 magnetic charging – so not like iPhones and the Google Pixel 10, you’ll be able to’t snap the S26s onto MagSafe chargers. Samsung as an alternative places magnets in its official circumstances to realize this, however the firm didn’t ship me any to check out.

An enormous change on paper is that the S26 and S26 Plus are utilizing the Samsung-made Exynos 2600 chipset in each nation bar the US and China, whereas the S26 Ultra has the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 globally. It’s not clear why this alternative was made, however I’ve no complaints with the Exynos after 11 days of utilizing each telephones.

If something, the battery life is improved over the S25 sequence, significantly on the smaller S26, which has a 4,300mAh cell. That’s bigger than on the S25, however actually this seems to be the one improve apart from the doubling of base storage.

The 50MP principal, 10MP 3x optical telephoto and 12MP ultra-wide on each telephones is an identical to the S25. Shots are very stable from the principle lens, however I had actually hoped Samsung would attempt and do one thing higher this yr. For flagship telephones that value from almost £900, I’d count on higher processing, which nonetheless errs on the saturated colors Samsung is understood for.

I favor photographs from the Pixel 10a, a £499 telephone, which has higher distinction and dynamic vary, however to be truthful, the S26’s cameras are totally on par with the Pixel and the most recent iPhone 17. If you really need the best in cellular images, you’ll be able to pay more for one thing just like the £1,299 Xiaomi 17 Ultra, which is leagues forward of any Samsung telephone, together with the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

One cool characteristic these telephones have known as horizontal lock, and it’ll be very welcome in case you’re irritated by shaky video taken in your telephone. Tap an icon to show this software on and it’ll – fairly magically, to be sincere – keep your video oriented even in case you don’t keep your telephone completely straight. It successfully stabilises the horizon, and means rushed video of youngsters, pets and sporting occasions will keep on a stage even when your hand doesn’t.

It’s a glimmer of the Samsung of years passed by, transport an wonderful new technology its rivals didn’t do first.

I additionally just like the new audio eraser, which is a toggle within the fast settings panel within the notification shade whenever you’re watching video. It expertly removes background noise from videos in actual time so you’ll be able to hone in on the audio you wish to hear. The best use case I discovered was to show down the group noise in a spotlight reel for a soccer match – it turned down the singing and shouting so you might hear the commentators.

I personally wouldn’t wish to try this, but it surely may show a helpful accessibility characteristic.

As that is a Samsung telephone there may be additionally a complicated and annoying quantity of AI shoved at you whenever you use these telephones. It comes at you from three instructions: Galaxy AI and Bixby lead Samsung’s own charge, whereas Google Gemini can also be current. Samsung even sneakily provides a fourth option by preinstalling ChatGPT rival Perplexity as an app, which you’ll be able to uninstall.

I didn’t count on Samsung’s long forgotten Bixby to be essentially the most helpful of the bunch, however having the ability to use voice prompts to ask questions within the settings app to seek out particular settings is definitely actually helpful. Though alternatively, I needed to do this as a result of Samsung’s menus are so huge and unintuitive.

The software program is Android 16 with Samsung’s One UI 8.5 excessive. I fairly like One UI lately, even when it does change the look and really feel of Android considerably. It’s very customisable, and after a few days of tweaks, I bought these telephones feeling like I wished them. This consists of disabling a lot of notifications from pesky apps, and firming down the nonetheless very ineffective Now Brief, which by no means reveals me something related.

Best of all, Samsung guarantees seven years of Android and security updates, so these telephones are supported till 2033.

There’s not a lot else to say in regards to the S26 and S26 Plus. They are the upgrades I anticipated, however not those I feel we deserved. If your Samsung or different Android telephone is more than 4 years outdated, you’ll benefit from the polished and stable on daily basis telephones on offer right here. Maybe Samsung isn’t altering tack as a result of it doesn’t wish to harm its regular gross sales, but when your telephone continues to be working OK, I’d wait to see if the S27 and S27 Plus present more attention-grabbing upgrades.