Samsung’s FE, or Fan Edition, smartphones have become a popular choice for buyers who want a taste of the flagship Galaxy experience without paying flagship prices. This year, Samsung is back with the Galaxy S26 FE, the entry point to the S26 series.
Performance
But there is one detail that immediately stands out: the price. And while the Galaxy S26 series largely carries forward the design language of its predecessor, the S26 FE gets a few changes of its own. Does the Galaxy S26 FE offer enough of the flagship experience to make it a compelling buy, or does the higher price make the FE proposition less attractive? The first thing I noticed about the Galaxy S26 FE is that it looks every bit like a Samsung flagship. The review unit I used came in the new Pistachio colour, and it is easily one of the more refreshing shades in the lineup. The other options are Graphite and Blueberry. The phone has a glass back and aluminium frame, giving it a polished finish without making it feel overly premium or fragile. The biggest visual change is at the back, where Samsung has placed all three cameras together in a single camera island. I think this makes the phone look cleaner and gives it a more distinctive identity when compared with the floating camera arrangement on the S25 FE. The glass-and-aluminium construction also feels sturdy, while the IP68 rating adds the reassurance of water and dust resistance. The camera island does protrude enough to stop the phone from lying completely flat on a table, but that is a fairly minor compromise. The buttons remain tactile and are positioned along the side, while the bottom houses the USB Type-C port and speaker. However, there is an important change here that buyers should know about. At the front, you get the punch hole carrying the selfie camera. The display carries an under-display fingerprint sensor as well, and it is responsive once you get used to its position. Samsung has not changed the core display formula from the S25 FE. Scrolling feels smooth, animations look fluid and the panel delivers the kind of rich contrast and deep blacks that I have come to expect from Samsung. There is also no LTPO technology here, so the refresh rate cannot dynamically drop all the way down to 1Hz to save power. Still, the overall viewing experience is fine. Compared with the S25 FE, there is no major display upgrade to talk about, which again makes the higher price harder to justify. Samsung continues to push AI deeper into the Galaxy experience, but the useful additions are the ones that actually fit into everyday use. Call Screening is one such feature, while the Now Brief is another addition I found interesting. It creates personalised cards using information such as weather, health progress, videos and calendar events, with the feed changing through the day. During everyday use, the phone feels smooth. Apps open quickly, multi-tasking is handled well and switching between social media, browsing, streaming and photography does not reveal any obvious weakness. The performance itself is satisfactory, as it should be at this price. The phone handles regular workloads without hesitation, but the storage is a bigger concern. Gaming is another area where the phone performs well. Casual and demanding games run smoothly at high settings, and the processor manages everyday gaming without becoming a source of frustration. Very demanding titles can still push the hardware, with frame drops and occasional instability possible. For the most part, however, the gaming experience is good, and sustained performance is one of the areas where the S26 FE feels dependable. There is also 3x optical zoom, 2x optical-quality zoom and up to 30x digital zoom. On paper, this is a versatile setup, although there is no camera hardware upgrade over the S25 FE. Galaxy S26 FE camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
Because of the large screen, punchy colours and strong contrast, streaming movies and videos is particularly enjoyable. Because the testing conditions and benchmark versions can affect those numbers, the GPU figures should not be treated as a direct generational comparison. Starting at ₹69,999, the Galaxy S26 FE costs ₹10,000 more than the Galaxy S25 FE did at launch. On paper, Samsung has brought out some meaningful upgrades, including the Exynos 2500 processor over the Exynos 2400 on the S25 FE, along with a refreshed design and new colour options. But the bigger question is whether these upgrades are enough to justify the ₹10,000 price increase . I spent time with the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE to find out whether it is worth buying, and more importantly, whether it is worth paying ₹10,000 more to own it. At 193 grams, it is actually quite light for a phone of this size, although its large and wide body means single-handed use can get difficult. It is 7.4mm thick and broadly retains the big footprint of the S25 FE, so anyone expecting a smaller FE device will not find that here. The S26 FE uses a USB 2.0 port, down from USB 3.2 Gen 1 on the S25 FE. The Galaxy S26 FE comes with a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 1080 x 2340-pixel FHD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The 1,900-nit peak brightness is enough for comfortable outdoor use, although it is noticeably below the 3,000-nit peak brightness offered by the regular Galaxy S26. This is one area where Samsung could have done more, especially considering the ₹69,999 starting price. The Galaxy S26 FE runs Android 17 with Samsung’s One UI 9 on top, and the software feels polished and highly customisable. The Galaxy S26 FE gets Samsung’s Exynos 2500 processor, which is the biggest hardware upgrade over the S25 FE’s Exynos 2400. It is a deca-core chipset with a peak clock speed of 3.3GHz. The processor is also more power-efficient than its predecessor, although it remains below the Exynos 2600 used in the main S26 series. My review unit came with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage. At ₹69,999, I think 256 GB should have been the standard, particularly for a phone that can shoot 8K video and is likely to be used for gaming and photography. Samsung continuing with 8 GB RAM even on the higher-storage model does not make the proposition any better. In benchmarks, the S26 FE scored 1,991 in Geekbench single-core, 7,509 in multi-core and 6,984 in the GPU test. Its AnTuTu score came in at 2,578,431. Against the S25 FE’s 2,109 single-core, 6,843 multi-core and 2,008,232 AnTuTu scores, the S26 FE delivers a higher multi-core and overall AnTuTu score, while its single-core score is lower. Overall, the performance is satisfactory and the Exynos 2500 does deliver the upgrade Samsung needed to make here. Samsung has retained the same triple-camera setup from the S25 FE, comprising a 50 MP main camera, a 12 MP ultrawide and an 8 MP telephoto.
The good news is that the cameras still perform well. Daylight images from the main camera have plenty of clarity and detail, with vibrant colours that do not feel excessively processed. Dynamic range is also good, and I liked the way the camera retained details across different parts of the frame. Night photography is another strong point. The phone captures detailed images in low light, handles artificial lighting well and manages shadows without making the overall picture look unnaturally bright. The automatic Night Mode does an excellent job here, provided you keep the phone steady. The 3x optical zoom is good for distant subjects, although it is not as sharp as the main camera. The 2x zoom also works well in most situations. The ultrawide camera is decent when you need a wider frame and generally maintains colour consistency with the main camera, although it can introduce more noise and does not have autofocus. Portrait shots also come out well, with good subject separation and pleasing background blur, making the camera setup one of the phone’s more dependable features. The rear cameras remain the bigger strength of the phone. Samsung also offers useful editing tools and My FanCam, which can automatically frame and crop subjects in videos. Heavy gaming and camera use naturally drain it faster. Charging remains at 45W wired, with 15W wireless charging also supported. That is practical, but not particularly exciting at this price. The phone is also Qi2-compatible, although it does not have built-in magnets for convenient magnetic docking. So, compared with the S25 FE, there is no meaningful battery capacity upgrade, but the improved processor does help with endurance. The battery experience is good, but just not enough to make the S26 FE stand out.
Because it gives the S26 FE an advantage over phones that rely entirely on digital zoom, galaxy S26 FE camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan The telephoto camera is particularly useful. Because there is no autofocus, it is satisfactory for social media and video calls, but I think Samsung could have done more here, particularly. Because of the balance between quality and stability, video recording goes up to 8K at 30fps, while 4K at 60fps is a more practical choice for everyday shooting.
Galaxy S26 FE camera sample | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan The 12 MP selfie camera, however, feels more ordinary. The Galaxy S26 FE carries a 4,900 mAh battery, exactly the same capacity as the S25 FE. The difference comes from the Exynos 2500, which is more power efficient and helps the S26 FE squeeze a little more life from the same battery. With regular use, I found the battery capable of lasting through most of the day, with around 20% left by bedtime, while lighter usage can stretch it further.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is a good phone on its own. It has a sleek design, a lovely large AMOLED display, reliable cameras, good gaming performance, useful AI features and dependable battery life. The Galaxy S26 FE is not a bad upgrade, but it is a difficult recommendation.
The Exynos 2500 is a meaningful performance upgrade over the S25 FE, and the new design details and colours give it a fresh look. But when I look at the phone through the lens of its ₹69,999 price, the picture changes. The problem is that Samsung has increased the price by ₹10,000 without making enough meaningful changes elsewhere. The display is largely unchanged, the camera hardware remains the same, the battery capacity is unchanged, storage starts at just 128 GB, and the USB port has actually been downgraded.
