Samsung Galaxy S26 FE Review: Mostly the Same Phone, Now $100 More

Samsung's Galaxy S26 FE is, in GSMArena's words, "mostly unchanged" from the S25 FE — yet it costs $100 more in the US. The FE line is still positioned as the most affordable way into the Galaxy S range, and the changes are real but modest: One UI 9 based on Android 17, a faster Exynos 2500 chipset, a slightly larger 4,900mAh battery and a larger display. The review rates the phone 4.2 out of 5. The question the review keeps coming back to is whether those changes are worth the higher price.

The phone costs $599.99 for the 128GB model, $699.99 for 256GB and £799 for 512GB. In the UK the price is the same as last year (£699 for the base model), and 256GB with 8GB of RAM is the standard configuration in China, Europe and the UK. The S25 FE, meanwhile, is available at a discounted $550 for the 128GB model — which makes the value question sharper still.

Design: the same clean look, in Pistachio

The design is essentially the same as the Galaxy S25 FE, with a very clean, symmetrical look, a flat front and back, and a thin, flat aluminium frame. GSMArena calls it "a very good looking phone" with "a simple, clean and understated design decision". The transparent, clear camera island — the same as the Galaxy S26's, but without the coloured ring — and the Pistachio colour are singled out; the review unit came in Pistachio, described as the reviewer's favourite, and the review says the colour goes well with the glass back.

The back is Gorilla Glass Victus+, which the review says is "a lot more durable than the Gorilla Glass 6" and covers the whole back panel. The side frames are flat, with a separate power button; the display has thin, symmetrical bezels top, bottom and sides. At 161.6 x 76.9 x 7.4mm and 193g, the phone has a flat top and bottom, a power button and volume keys on the right-hand side, and a bottom-firing loudspeaker. The optical fingerprint sensor is accurate and snappy, and face unlock is available. It is IP68 rated — the design page says the phone stays underwater for 30 minutes at 1.5 metres. There is no microSD expansion. Colours are Blueberry, Graphite and Pistachio.

Display: bright, adaptive, and a touch behind the Galaxy S26

The 6.70-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display is a 1080 x 2340 panel with 120Hz refresh, HDR10+ and a 1,900-nit high-brightness mode, protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+. GSMArena's lab tests measured 1,011 nits in manual mode and 1,546 nits in automatic mode, with a minimum brightness of 0.9 nits. The review says brightness is excellent, helped by the "Vision Booster" technology and the always-on auto-brightness, and that the quoted 1,900-nit figure is a peak.

The brightness chart puts the S26 FE at 1,546 nits, behind the Galaxy S26 at 1,596 and the Honor 600 Pro at 1,578, and ahead of the Poco F9 Ultra at 1,352 and the iPhone 17 at 1,181. The display supports an adaptive 1–120Hz refresh rate: in Adaptive mode it drops to 1Hz when idle and rises to 120Hz when interaction is required, and at 60Hz adaptive it stays at 60Hz.

Performance: flagship-class, but not the fastest

The Exynos 2500 is a 3nm deca-core chip — one Cortex-X2 at 3.30GHz, two Cortex-A725 at 2.74GHz, five Cortex-A725 at 2.39GHz and two Cortex-A520 at 1.90GHz — with an Xclipse 950 GPU, paired with 8GB of RAM in all models and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage. GSMArena describes it as a flagship-class chip, but says it is not as fast as the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the Galaxy S26 Ultra, and that the S26 FE is "a bit slower" than the Galaxy S26 in benchmarks.

The numbers bear that out. Geekbench 6 single-core: 2,438 for the S26 FE, against 3,781 for the Galaxy S26 Ultra and 2,933 for the Honor 600 Pro. AnTuTu v10: 2,119,022, against 2,795,030 for the Xiaomi 17T Pro and 2,207,809 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: 5,275, against 7,744 for the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Under sustained load the phone throttled to 62–68% of its peak performance, which the review describes as handling heat "pretty well" — the surface does not get as uncomfortable as on some rivals.

Software: One UI 9 on Android 17, with 7 years of updates

The S26 FE runs One UI 9 based on Android 17, with 7 major Android OS updates promised. The review describes a "Warranty and Care" menu as a new addition, with an "active screen" reading ability that lets the user update the warranty status and the Care+ subscription coverage. Galaxy AI includes a "Now Brief" custom-card feature — "more personalised and more useful" — and an expanded Bixby with Perplexity integration, a Driving report, and a fully overhauled Samsung Health app. There is also My FanCam, an AI-powered auto-framing feature for selfies and videos, pro video capture with frame-rate options, and RAM Plus virtual-memory expansion in the software settings.

Battery: good, but behind last year's FE

The 4,900mAh battery is a slight improvement over last year, and GSMArena's Active Use Score came in at 15 hours 3 minutes — calls 30:24, web browsing 12:57, video playback 21:18, gaming 7:31. The review calls battery life "good", and describes it as somewhat better than the S25 FE in some respects — though the chart actually puts it behind the Galaxy S25 FE (15:40h), the Galaxy S26 (16:19h) and the iPhone 17 (17:17h), and ahead of the Pixel 10 (15:37h) and the Honor 400 (14:22h).

Charging is the weaker half of the story. The 45W wired charging (PD/QC2) reaches 28% in 15 minutes, 51% in 30 minutes, and a full charge in 1 hour 24 minutes. The Galaxy S25 FE is at 29% / 52% / 1:28, and the Galaxy S26 at 43% / 79% / 0:56. The review says the 45W charging is "not particularly fast" for the price. Wireless charging is 15W and Qi2-compatible, with reverse wireless charging. The dual speakers measured a Very Good -26.3 LUFS — the same as the Galaxy S25 FE — and the review says they are "very good", with good depth and clarity and well-balanced sound.

Camera: a very good all-round system

The camera is the strongest part of this phone. The rear setup is a 50MP main camera (f/1.8, OIS) with an 8MP telephoto (3x optical zoom, OIS) and a 12MP ultrawide (123 degrees). The front camera is 12MP — the same as on the Galaxy Z Flip8. Video goes up to 8K at 24/30fps, 4K at 30/60/120fps and 1080p at up to 240fps, with HDR10+ and gyro-EIS.

A portrait camera sample from TechUpper's Galaxy S26 FE camera test.

GSMArena calls the camera "a very good" all-round system, with a 50MP main camera that is "excellent" in daylight, plus a 12MP ultrawide and an 8MP telephoto, and "much better" low-light performance than the S25 FE. In daylight, the main camera delivers excellent detail and sharpness, with good dynamic range and natural colours. The 2x zoom — a 12MP crop from the main camera — is excellent, with good detail and sharpness. The 12MP ultrawide is good, with good detail and colours in daylight. The 3x telephoto is good at 3x, with good detail, but "not as good" at 10x digital zoom, where the image is softer.

Portraits are good, with natural bokeh and good skin tones, and the 12MP front camera is good for portraits. Low light is where the phone improved most: the 50MP main camera is "very good" in low light, with Night Mode giving "a significant improvement" in detail and dynamic range, and the 12MP front camera is "exceptional" in low light. Video is strong too — 4K30 with EIS is "excellent" for driving, 1080p120 high-frame-rate video is "very good", HDR10+ in 8K is smooth, and 4K60 with EIS gives "robust stabilisation" even on the 10x telephoto. Macro mode requires focusing at about 2cm. The review says the camera's "greatest weakness" is that it is not as good as the Galaxy S26's main camera in some areas, and that the 3x telephoto is "not the best" for zoom.

Price and verdict

The Galaxy S26 FE costs $599.99 for 128GB, $699.99 for 256GB and £799 for 512GB. GSMArena rates it 4.2 out of 5. It is the most affordable way into the Galaxy S range, with a clean design, a bright adaptive display, a very good camera — especially in low light — and 7 years of updates. The trade-offs are the ones the review keeps naming: it is a bit slower than the Galaxy S26, the 45W charging is not particularly fast for the price, and it is $100 more expensive than the S25 FE in the US while being mostly unchanged. With the S25 FE available at a discounted $550, the S26 FE makes most sense for buyers who want the newest software, the better low-light camera and the faster chip — and who are buying the 256GB model, the standard configuration in most markets.

Pros and cons

Pros: very good all-round camera with much better low light than the S25 FE; bright 1–120Hz adaptive display; clean, symmetrical design with Gorilla Glass Victus+ and IP68; One UI 9 on Android 17 with 7 years of updates; good 15-hour battery life; very good speakers.

Cons: $100 more expensive than the S25 FE in the US while mostly unchanged; 45W charging is not particularly fast; a bit slower than the Galaxy S26 in benchmarks; no microSD expansion; 3x telephoto is not the best for zoom.

Sources

• GSMArena — Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review (September 2026)