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Galaxy S26 Plus in Black. | Image by PhoneArena
Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus are now official
What's changed vs Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus:
Bigger display on the Galaxy S26: 6.3-inch instead of 6.2-inch
Camera island redesign
Bigger 4,300mAh battery cell on the Galaxy S26
Exynos 2600/Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 regional split
New Galaxy AI features (upgraded Bixby, image generation)
Cameras are largely the same, but AI features, including Nightography Video, are available.
Price:
Galaxy S26 now starts at $899.
The Galaxy S26 Plus at $1,099.
Both phones now come with a $100 price increase over their predecessors.
Galaxy S26: up to $380 off at the official store
$519
99
$899
99
$380 off (42%)
The Galaxy S26 is currently available at the Samsung Store with an exciting trade-in discount. Right now, you can buy the model with a $380 maximum price cut. Samsung also gives you 15% off the Galaxy Buds 4 or the Buds 4 Pro with your smartphone purchase.
The Galaxy S26+ is here, bringing improved software and a more powerful processor. The device can now be yours for up to $480 off with eligible device trade-ins. Users also get 15% off the Buds 4 series with their purchase. The official store gives you a $150 credit for add-ons without trade-ins.
The cameras on both the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus are not getting upgraded this time around, at least not at the hardware level.
Despite that, we're getting plenty of nice Galaxy AI features on the phones, including improvements to Photo Assist and a new Creative Studio. The Super Steady Film is available on the S26 and S26 Plus as well. The feature allows your phone to take steady videos by locking the horizon.
The phones are also getting the new Nightography Video feature, powered by AI. The feature brightens scenes filmed in low-light environments and reduces noise.
Both phones can capture 8K video at 30 fps; the S26 Plus has 4K UHD at 120 fps support, while the vanilla Galaxy S26 can take 4K UHD video at 60 fps.
Samsung has ditched the 128 GB storage version from the S26, and now the starting storage is 256 GB.
Galaxy S26 storage capacity:
256 GB
512 GB
Galaxy S26 Plus storage capacity:
256 GB
512 GB
Both phones also come with a higher 512 GB storage variant. They are not available with a 1 TB option.
Galaxy S26 design
Galaxy S26. | Image by PhoneArena
The two phones are getting a different corner radius so they could better match the Ultra in terms of looks. The rumored camera island look is also here.
The phones are sporting the same colors as the Galaxy S26 Ultra:
The long-rumored Qi2 support for magnetic wireless charging didn’t come to fruition, unfortunately, so we get the same Qi2 readiness as on their predecessors.
Galaxy S26 Plus. | Image by PhoneArena
For durability, both phones come with Armor Aluminum and Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Galaxy S26 dimensions:
5.89 x 2.82 x 0.28 inches (~0.39 inches with camera bump)
149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2 mm (~10 mm with camera bump)
Weight: 5.89 oz / 167.0 g
Galaxy S26 Plus dimensions:
6.24 x 2.98 x 0.29 inches (~0.39 inches with camera bump)
158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm (~10 mm with camera bump)
Weight: 6.70 oz / 190.0 g
Galaxy S26 display
Galaxy S26 display. | Image by PhoneArena
Samsung's premium phones are known for their top-notch screens, and that's changing. The Galaxy S26 and S26+ come with excellent displays.
The Galaxy S26’s screen is now growing from the 6.2-inch one on the predecessor to a 6.3-inch one. The Galaxy S26 Plus retains the same 6.7-inch display. Both are again coming with 1-120 Hz adaptive display refresh rate.
The two phones aren’t getting the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s fancy privacy display feature, unfortunately.
The display of the two phones is now sporting an advanced mobile Digital Natural Image engine (mDNIe) for accurate color representation. There's also a boost in graphics performance thanks to it.
The display also comes with ProScaler, which uses AI to give processing improvements for clearer images on your display.
Galaxy S26 battery
We didn't get silicon-carbon tech in the Galaxy S26 series this time. Despite competitors from Chinese makers betting on the new battery tech (for example, the OnePlus 13, the Honor Magic 6 Pro, and others), Samsung is not hopping on this train just yet.
Well, the South Korean giant still gave some upgrade love to the base Galaxy S26, and its battery cell has now grown to 4,300 mAh from 4,000 mAh.
The Galaxy S26 Plus keeps the same 4,900 mAh battery as its predecessor.
The two phones are also not getting an upgrade in the charging department, unlike their bigger sibling, the Galaxy S26 Ultra.
The Galaxy S26 series comes with One UI 8.5, which is based on Android 16, out of the box.
Galaxy AI is the star of the show when it comes to the new phones and their software. We’re getting a new AI-powered screenshot analyzer, which will categorize your screenshots so you can find them easier.
Samsung also has updated Now Brief and Now Bar. Now Brief is now getting a deeper integration with the personal data engine (which includes notifications and messages) so it can better highlight what’s coming in your data. The Now Bar is getting adaptive recommendations.
Bixby is also getting upgraded and now offers natural language support and real-time web search. You can also choose another assistant, including Gemini and Perplexity, if you wish that.
Features like Call Screening are also present, and the spam filter protection is getting expanded to more countries.
Circle to Search is also getting enhanced on the S26. The feature now supports multi-object recognition, so you can search for more than one object in a photo at a time.
Meanwhile, there is a new Private Album feature in the Galaxy S26’s Gallery. Thanks to this new album, you can hide photos and videos without having to create a separate album.
This Samsung video shows how you can create AI-powered stickers on Galaxy:
AI-stickers on Galaxy teaser. | Video by Samsung
Galaxy S26 hardware
Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus specs:
CPU: Exynos 2600 or Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (depending on region)
RAM: 12 GB
Battery: 4,300 mAh (S26), 4,900 mAh (S26 Plus)
Charging: 25 W wired and 15 W wireless (S26), 45 W wired and 20 W wireless (S26 Plus),
The Galaxy S26 phones come with either the Exynos 2600 or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The Snapdragon chip is reserved for buyers in the U.S., China, and Japan, while Europe gets the Exynos 2600 version.
The Exynos 2600 is manufactured on a 2nm process, while the Snapdragon chip is still on a 3nm one. Samsung says that the new customized processor offers blazing speed and powers the customized image enhancer for the display of the two phones.
With the new chip, the Galaxy S26 Plus offers 38% faster AI performance, 23% improved graphics performance, and 7% faster processing (CPU speeds) in comparison to the Galaxy S25 Plus.
When it comes to performance, since these are Samsung's flagship models, you can expect them to be smooth and fast. They can handle everything with ease, be it simple tasks like browsing social media or heavier ones like gaming and generative AI.
Samsung is also bringing a redesigned vapor chamber for cooling, which should noticeably improve the heat dissipation.
As for RAM, we are not seeing an upgrade this time around. Competitors from other companies are starting to offer 16GB as a default, but Samsung has not followed them and is still offering the two phones with only 12 GB of RAM. For storage, you have 256 or 512 GB.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm announced the X85 modem during MWC that handles connectivity on the Galaxy S26 series. The new modem will be more power efficient but able to deliver higher 5G speeds.
Galaxy S26 Plus review: the Galaxy S26 Plus is taken through our rigorous testing to see how much of an upgrade it is and what the experience with the phone is.
Galaxy S26 review: the Galaxy S26 also undergoes our testing, and we examine the smallest sibling in the S26 trio across all categories to help you determine whether this phone is for you.
Iskra Petrova is a news writer at PhoneArena, where she covers mobile tech news and maintains the site’s device hubs with the latest leaked specs, rumors, and official details for upcoming phones. She joined PhoneArena in 2020 after three years in technical support for Microsoft Exchange, giving her practical experience with software infrastructure and troubleshooting. Iskra holds a Master’s Degree in Literature, which helps her translate complex tech details into clear, reader-friendly coverage. She is a daily Apple ecosystem user, while also closely following Sony Xperia’s camera-focused phones and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip series.
