While the 4,900-mAh battery is the same as the S25 FE, you will likely squeeze a bit more life from it because of the processor upgrade. It got me through most days with around 20 percent remaining by bedtime and could maybe stretch to two days with light use, but I’d plan on charging nightly. An hour of Monument Valley 2 claimed 10 percent, but just 20 minutes of Wuthering Waves drained 7 percent. When it’s time to recharge, there’s 45-watt wired charging or 15-watt wireless charging. Sadly, though it is Qi2-compatible, there are no magnets for easy docking.
One perplexing downgrade is the USB-C port, which dropped to USB 2.0 from the S25 FE’s USB 3.2 (Gen 1). That means file transfers max out at 480 Mbps, and it doesn’t support wired DeX (wireless DeX is still available). More importantly, it lacks DisplayPort Alt Mode, which means you can’t use it with virtual display smart glasses (I tested with the Viture Beast) or plug it into a TV.
Samsung’s One UI 9 feels clean, and it’s very customizable. Naturally, it’s infused with Samsung AI, but I appreciated features like Call Screening, and I actually quite like the Now Brief, which lets you create custom cards that pull relevant info on the weather, health progress, and videos you might be interested in, combined with calendar events—creating a personalized feed that shifts throughout the day.
Sadly, Samsung has preinstalled a bunch of bloatware. Its own suite of apps, I understand, but Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, Netflix, and Perplexity? I’m sick of this pernicious practice. The argument that these third-party app deals subsidize a low price falls apart when Samsung charges $700 for this phone. Let me decide what apps I want.
Camera Par
Photograph: Simon Hill
The camera system in the S26 FE is exactly the same as last year’s. It has a good 50-megapixel main lens, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and an 8-megapixel telephoto. On the front, there’s a 12-megapixel selfie camera. It’s about what I’d expect for a midrange phone.
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