Introduction
Samsung’s latest Galaxy S phones, the S26 and S26 Plus, are reviewed as feeling awfully familiar. Despite minor hardware upgrades, these flagship devices lack the significant improvements seen in previous models.
Design and Display
The S26 and S26 Plus retain the same design as their predecessors, with straightened sides and triple cameras in one corner. The S26 has a 6.3-inch display, slightly larger than the previous model’s 6.2-inch panel, making it taller, wider, and heavier. The S26 Plus features a 6.7-inch display.
Performance and Battery Life
Both phones feature refreshed chipsets for 2026, with the S26 Ultra using Qualcomm Snapdragon chips worldwide, while the S26 and S26 Plus use a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in the US and Samsung’s own Exynos 2600 in other markets. The S26 has a 4,300mAh battery, up from 4,000mAh in the S25, and the S26 Plus has a 4,900mAh battery.
The S26 Plus also has faster wireless charging at 20W compared to the S26’s 15W. Despite these upgrades, Samsung has not included magnetic Qi2 charging, a feature introduced by Google in its Pixel 10 phones.
Camera Performance
The S26 and S26 Plus retain the same camera hardware as last year’s models, featuring a 50-megapixel main camera, a 10-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide lens. Daytime photos come out well, but highlights occasionally have an overprocessed sheen. Low light performance is average, with excessive brightening and smudgy halos around direct light.
Software and AI Features
The phones include Samsung’s daily Now Brief and Circle to Search, which can look up whole outfits at a time. Additionally, the upgraded Bixby offers automatic call screening, scam protection, and natural language AI photo edits. However, Bixby’s reliability varies, often taking users to settings pages instead of directly changing settings.
Conclusionstrong>Summary
The Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus offer minor improvements over their predecessors but lack the significant upgrades seen in previous models. With higher prices and no major new features, there’s little reason to upgrade unless you’re in need of a new device.
元記事: https://www.theverge.com/tech/892311/samsung-galaxy-s26-plus-review-screen-battery-camera-software