The Galaxy S26 series is official and currently up for preorder, but in the lead up to the official release, there’s one major question you have to ask yourself: should you buy a Galaxy S26? Well, the answer depends on what you’re looking for and the phone you’re upgrading from, so it’s not a simple “Yes” or “No.”
I’ve already had some hands-on time with each of the phones, this is my firsthand insight and thoughts on the S26 series and why you should or shouldn’t buy them.
Why you should buy a Galaxy S26
These are the top five reasons I’ve found the Galaxy S26 series worth buying:
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
The Snapdragon 8 Elite was already a powerful chipset, made even more powerful with the Galaxy variant. However, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which launched in September of last year, promises a 20% performance increase over its predecessor, including enhanced graphics and better CPU and GPU efficiency.
You can check out our Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 comparison, which shows just how big of a jump it represents, especially in single-core performance.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy takes that a step further, as both Qualcomm and Samsung collaborated on the chip “to optimize Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy for the latest Galaxy AI experiences.” So not only will you get incredible performance in every day tasks and gaming, but the chip should should enable impressive on-device AI performance.
Privacy Display
The Privacy Display is one of the most impressive new hardware features introduced with the Galaxy S26 series. The way it works is that it can hide the contents of your display when viewed from the sides, meaning you won’t have to worry about onlookers seeing your spicy photos or messages. Think of it as a built-in privacy screen protector for your Samsung phone.
However, this is actually much more granular than that, because unlike a privacy screen protector, which is always in effect, the Privacy Display is customizable. You can adjust it so that it only works when you open certain apps or when you receive notifications, that way the rest of the display is visible aside from the notification itself.
This is because the Privacy Display works at the pixel level, allowing for more control over how it works. The downside is that this feature is exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, meaning you have to spring for the top-of-the-line model.
AI for days
Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, the Galaxy S26 series is much more capable, particularly when it comes to AI. For example, Gemini is able to perform tasks on your behalf, such as online shopping or ordering an Uber, without you needing to do much of anything. And right before the end of the process, it will ask you to confirm any purchases so you can ensure everything was done correctly.
Now Nudge is another example of how AI is becoming more proactive. Similar to Magic Cue on the Pixel 10 series, Now Nudge can surface information based on the context of what you’re doing. If someone sends you a message asking for the address to an event you’re going to or photos you took during a trip to Australia, Now Nudge will pop up with said address based on your calendar events or a button that will take you straight to a set of images taken in Australia. This way, you don’t have to go digging around for information or photos; the AI does it for you.
The Galaxy S26 series also comes with tons of new AI editing features, like which make it easy to use generative AI to change aspects of a photo, add elements of one photo to another, and so on. Think of it as Samsung’s version of Ask Photos in the Google Photos app, making it more natural to edit an image, especially if you don’t know quite how to fix or enhance it yourself.
More storage
The base S series phone has been stuck with 128GB of storage for years now. However, we’re coming to a point when that’s no longer enough for a flagship phone. Fortunately, Samsung heard our plea and increased the base storage on the Galaxy S26.
Now, you have 256GB of storage to start, and that’s before any promotions. In fact, if you’re trying to preorder the Galaxy S26 series, you can probably snag the base model at 512GB for the same price you’d pay for the 256GB model.
Battery and charging upgrades
Samsung has been noticeably cautious about its batteries and charging speeds, meaning we haven’t seen the needle move much in recent years. However, that finally changes this year, as Samsung has increased both the battery size and charging speeds in the Galaxy S26 series, but not all models received the same upgrades.
For example, the Galaxy S26 got bumped to 4,300mAh, up from 4,000mAh on the Galaxy S25, but without any changes to charging speed. The Galaxy S26 Plus received an increase in wireless charging speed from 15W to 20W, but the battery capacity and wired charging remain the same.
Finally, the Galaxy S26 Ultra received the most changes, with an increase in wired charging speeds from 45W to 60W, which Samsung says should charge the phone’s 5,000mAh battery to 75% in just 30 minutes. Additionally, the S26 Ultra now supports Qi2 wireless chaging speeds up to 25W, which is a fairly significant jump from 15W.
That said, you’ll still need a case to take advantage of Qi2 magnetic charging.
Who should buy a Galaxy S26?
If you’re someone who doesn’t upgrade often and has an older model like the older than at least two or three years the Galaxy S26 is probably a good buy. The Privacy Display is already an enticing feature for those of you who like to keep more private lives.
The chipset upgrade is also a good reason, and if you want the latest AI features and software capabilities, then these are the phones for you. Additionally, the extended software update promise means that once you have these phones, you’ll be pretty much set for up to seven years, assuming the chipset and battery can hold up that long.
Why you shouldn’t buy a Galaxy S26
Of course, there are a few reasons why you might want to think twice about buying the Galaxy S26 series, depending on your needs:
Price increases
The Galaxy S26 series comes with plenty of upgrades, but that means they’ll also come with some price increases. Samsung has managed to keep the prices relatively the same since the Galaxy S21 series, with only the S24 Ultra getting a price bump. How, it’s the base and Plus that are getting price increases.
Both models now cost $100 more than their predecessors. That means that base starts at $899 while the Plus starts at $1,099. Is it worth it to you? Does this push you away from the Galaxy S26 series, or perhaps closer to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, since the gap between it and the Plus has been reduced?
Cameras are largely unchanged
Unfortuantely, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is the only model that received any notable changes to the cameras. The 200MP primary camera and the 50MP telephoto camera both have wider apertures, meaning they should be better at handling low-light situations. However, the remaining camera specs are largely unchanged.
That goes for the base and Plus models, too, which did not receive the same apertures changes as the Ultra (or any sensor changes, for that matter), so you don’t get the benefit of better low-light video or photography. Almost makes the price increase feel not worth it.
On the plus side, Samsung says images should improve now that it has switched from a hardware based hardware-based-ISP to an AI-based one. Furthermore, it has also applied its AI ISP to the selfie camera as well, meaning selfie quality should improve. Let’s just hope it’s enough.
Not the battery upgrades we were hoping for
While we’re happy to see any improvements to battery capacity and/or charging speeds on Samsung phones, it still feels like Samsung is falling behind. The Galaxy S26 Ultra retains its 5,000mAh battery, which flagships from Chinese OEMs are pushing well over 6,000mAh and going as far as 9,000mAh or more.
Samsung’s reluctance to use silicon-carbon batteries is becoming more apparent as consumers push for longer battery life on their smartphones. The same goes for charging speeds, with Samsung still behind even Motorola, which offers 68W charging on the Razr Ultra 2025 and 90W charging on the Motorola Signature.
Who shouldn’t buy a Galaxy S26
If you have a recent Samsung flagship, such as a Galaxy S25 and S24, or even a Pixel 10, I see little reason for you to jump to the S26 series, unless you really want that Privacy Screen. Also, if you don’t care to have all of the latest AI features, the Galaxy S26 series probably isn’t worth the splurge, especially given the recent price increases of the base and Plus model.
If you’re looking for a phone with great cameras, long battery life, and fast charging, there are plenty of options out there from other companies outside Samsung, Apple, and Google.
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