Pondering of shopping for a Samsung Galaxy S26 over the approaching weeks? There’s actually just one mannequin price getting enthusiastic about.
Even earlier than Samsung had despatched out invitations to its Unpacked occasion, going down immediately, there was little or no left to unpack.
We knew just about precisely what was going to be unveiled on the firm’s huge San Francisco shindig, because of the limitless stream of leaks and rumours emanating from well-sourced tipsters and Samsung itself.
Yow will discover out the specs, options and the place to purchase the Samsung Galaxy S26 collection in our devoted article. I’m not going to get into an excessive amount of element right here.
What I’m going to do is provide is a helpful TL;DR for you all. Right here it’s: solely the Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely is of any actual curiosity.
Luke Baker
Standard, standard
Don’t get me fallacious: the Samsung Galaxy S26 and Samsung Galaxy S26+ are superb telephones.
For those who’re upgrading from a cellphone that’s two years outdated or extra, you’re prone to be very proud of a purchase order of both. However when it comes to year-on-year enhancements over their Samsung Galaxy S25 predecessors, there’s valuable little to get enthusiastic about.
Within the UK, there’ll be a brand new Exynos 2600 processor in each fashions, and the usual Galaxy S26 may have a fractionally bigger display screen (6.3-inch, up from 6.2-inch) and battery (4300mAh, up from 4000mAh). That’s about it.
We received’t be seeing the Qi2 magnetic wi-fi charging improve that had been extensively predicted. Even the Google Pixel 10 collection – hardly a paragon of smartphone novelty – added that exact function.
Luke Baker
It’s all concerning the Extremely
For those who’re searching for real progress on this yr’s Galaxy S26 household, you’ll most likely want to show to the Extremely mannequin.
I’m genuinely intrigued by the Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely’s new Privateness Display, which may clean out particular delicate content material until you’re taking a look at it straight-on.
It’s anti-peeking-over-shoulder know-how that might have real safety advantages and it’s set to work in a managed manner, making notifications non-public, for instance, relatively than an all-or-nothing block.
Luke Baker
The design has additionally been revamped, with a slimmer (7.9mm), lighter (214g) physique. As somebody who’s at all times sworn off even entertaining a Galaxy Extremely buy owing to the mannequin’s bulk, that is very attention-grabbing information certainly.
The premium mannequin additionally has sooner wired charging and wi-fi charging.
Topping all of it off, the baseline Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely has the smallest worth bump of all fashions, up solely £30 within the UK. Given worth rises of £80 to £100 elsewhere, plus the dearth of upgrades within the wider S26 household, that’s an enormous incentive to deal with the Extremely mannequin.
Samsung appears to need this to be the narrative, too, and has reportedly manufactured solely 700K S26 models and 600K of the S26+, in comparison with 3.6 million Ultras.