Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review: Familiar strengths, few meaningful upgrades
Samsung’s Galaxy S26 FE delivers a good display, dependable main camera and polished One UI 9 experience, but familiar hardware and a higher price weaken its value proposition
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE features a 6.7-inch AMOLED display, triple rear cameras, Exynos 2500 processor and a 4,900mAh battery
Harsh ShivamNew Delhi9 min read Last Updated : Sep 24 2026 | 4:56 PM IST
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Samsung recently refreshed its Fan Edition lineup in India with the launch of the Galaxy S26 FE. The smartphone follows a familiar formula: take the design and software experience of the Galaxy S series, trim a few specifications and sell it at a lower price. The formula has worked before, but rising component costs have changed the equation this time by widening the gap between the price and the perceived value of the smartphone. That said, the Galaxy S26 FE is not just pricier than its predecessor, it also misses out on any major upgrade.
I have been using the Galaxy S26 FE as my daily smartphone, and there is little to complain about when looking at the phone on its own. The large display is good for watching videos, the cameras are capable in most situations, One UI 9 feels polished and the phone is light enough despite its size. But Samsung has made a few decisions that feel odd for a phone priced at Rs 79,999, including retaining 8GB of RAM across storage configurations. Is that the only chink in the armour, or is there more? Let us find out.
Design and build
The Galaxy S26 FE follows Samsung’s current design language closely, with a flat frame, flat display and slim bezels. There is a slightly larger chin bezel at the bottom, which is not particularly noticeable during everyday use but does take away some of the flagship-like look of the phone.
The rear camera design has also changed. Instead of individual, button-like mounts around each lens, the three cameras are now housed within a single raised module. I personally prefer this arrangement. Dust used to collect between the individual camera rings on Samsung phones, making the area difficult to clean. The new design also means the lenses are less likely to catch on things inside a pocket when taking the phone out.
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The camera module still has one drawback, though. It makes the phone wobble when placed on a flat surface. This is not a major issue during normal use, but it becomes noticeable when typing or tapping on the screen while the phone is lying on a table.
The Galaxy S26 FE is also a large phone. One-handed use can be difficult, particularly when reaching for the top corners of the screen. I did not find the weight to be an issue, though. At 193g, it feels reasonable for a phone of this size, while the 7.4mm thickness makes it easier to hold.
The phone carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
Display
The Galaxy S26 FE has a 6.7-inch display, which is one of its strengths. It is the same Dynamic AMOLED 2X display as the previous generation, with full-HD+ resolution, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a claimed peak brightness of 1,900 nits.
I have little to complain about here. Colours are punchy without looking excessively saturated, blacks are deep and text looks sharp enough at this resolution. Scrolling through websites and social media also feels smooth at 120Hz.
Outdoor visibility is also decent. The screen is not as bright as the regular Galaxy S26, but I could use it outdoors without constantly having to search for shade. The difference becomes more obvious under direct sunlight.
One thing I would have liked to see is an LTPO panel. The Galaxy S26 FE switches between 60Hz and 120Hz rather than dynamically adjusting the refresh rate across a wider range. An LTPO panel could have helped with power consumption during tasks that do not need a high refresh rate.
As for the audio setup, the stereo speakers complement the display well, with volume levels sufficient for an average-sized bedroom. Dolby Atmos support adds some width to the sound when watching films or shows.
Performance
The Exynos 2500 is the biggest hardware change this year. It replaces the Exynos 2400 used in the S25 FE and is built on a 3nm process. In regular use, I did not have any complaints about performance.
Apps open quickly, animations are smooth and switching between applications does not feel like a chore. I used the phone for browsing, social media, photography, video streaming and general work, and it handled all of these without any obvious problems.
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Gaming is where the limits become clearer. Less demanding games run well, but heavier titles put more pressure on the phone. Playing games such as Wuthering Waves on medium to high settings caused occasional frame drops, while one extended session also led to the game crashing.
This is not surprising given the positioning of the phone. The Exynos 2500 is capable, but the S26 FE is not competing with Samsung’s higher-end S26 models on sustained performance. The Galaxy S26 FE also comes with 8GB of RAM compared with 12GB on the Galaxy S26.
Camera
Samsung has not changed the rear camera hardware from the S25 FE. There is a 50MP main camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 12MP ultra-wide camera and an 8MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. The front camera is 12MP.
The main camera is the strongest of the three.
In daylight, photographs have good detail, balanced exposure and the typical Samsung colour treatment. Colours are slightly more pronounced than what a Pixel would produce, but the results generally look good without needing much editing.
I also liked the 2x zoom. Since it uses the main sensor, image quality remains close to that of the primary camera, and it works well for portraits and subjects that are a little farther away.
The 3x telephoto is where the gap becomes obvious. It is useful to have a dedicated telephoto camera, but images lose detail faster than I expected. In difficult lighting, the camera can also struggle with exposure and sharpness.
The ultra-wide camera is fine for landscapes and group photographs, although detail is lower than from the main camera. The lack of autofocus also limits what can be done with it.
While the camera configuration is identical to that of its predecessor, Samsung has added its My FanCam feature from the premium line for differentiation. The feature can select a person in a group video and keep that person in the frame. It also gets Horizontal Lock, which keeps the video orientation fixed even when the phone is rotated while recording.
Photo Assist is also available for image editing. It allows users to describe changes in natural language rather than manually making every edit.
Software
The Galaxy S26 FE runs Android 17 with One UI 9, and the software experience is largely familiar to anyone who has used a recent Samsung phone. The interface is easy to navigate, there are plenty of customisation options and Samsung gives users considerable control over how different parts of the phone work.
The bigger change this time is how Samsung is integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into features that already exist. Photo Assist, for instance, allows users to make changes to images using natural-language prompts, combining several available editing tools into one workflow.
The results are not always consistent, though. Simple edits tend to work well, while more complicated changes can produce results that need another attempt. It is useful as an editing shortcut, but it does not replace a proper photo-editing application.
Circle to Search has also been updated to identify multiple objects in the same image. This can be handy when looking at a photograph containing several products or objects, although it remains a feature I use only occasionally.
Now Brief is also present. Samsung has carried it forward with customisable cards and additional information, including weather and other updates. I did not find myself relying on it much during everyday use.
What I did appreciate was how consistent One UI feels across the phone. There were also no major software bugs or interface issues during my time with the phone.
Samsung has committed to seven generations of operating system updates and seven years of security updates.
Battery
The Galaxy S26 FE has the same 4,900mAh battery capacity as its predecessor and supports 45W wired charging and 15W wireless charging.
In my regular use, the phone lasted through a day without much trouble. A day involving messaging, browsing, photography, streaming and some gaming generally meant reaching for the charger at night. That is where I think Samsung has got the balance about right. The battery is not exceptional, but it is predictable.
Charging speed is now one of the weaker parts of the package. Several phones at this price offer much faster wired charging, while Samsung continues to cap the S26 FE at 45W.
Wireless charging is useful, but the S26 FE does not have built-in magnets for magnetic accessories.
Final thoughts
The Galaxy S26 FE is a capable phone. The display is good, the main camera produces dependable results, the software is well supported and the Exynos 2500 handles normal usage without problems. But the phone is also remarkably close to its predecessor.
The design has been tweaked, the processor is newer and One UI 9 adds new features. The display is still 6.7 inches, the battery is still 4,900mAh and the rear cameras are still the same combination of 50MP, 12MP and 8MP sensors.
That makes the S26 FE an unusual upgrade. It is not a bad phone, and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the experience. But at Rs 79,999, the software and Samsung ecosystem have to do more of the work because the hardware does not give buyers much that is new.
The S26 FE is therefore easier to recommend to users looking to upgrade from an older-generation Galaxy flagship but who do not want to pay the premium for an all-out Galaxy S26 series flagship.
Topics :Samsung Galaxy smartphonesSmartphone reviewSamsung India
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First Published: Sep 24 2026 | 4:54 PMIST
