Samsung Galaxy S26

The Samsung Galaxy S26 has a non-folding, non-rugged form factor with dimensions of 149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2 mm, a volume of 77.23 cm³, and a weight of 167 g, keeping it relatively slim and manageable. It carries an IP68 ingress protection rating, confirming full waterproofing under standardized conditions, and its water resistance is classified as Waterproof. The device also holds a French Repairability Index score of 8.5, indicating a notably high level of repairability by that standard. In terms of operating conditions, it is rated for use between 0 °C and 35 °C.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 features a 6.3″ OLED/AMOLED touchscreen with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 px and a pixel density of 411 ppi, delivering a typical brightness of 2600 nits. The display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate with a 240Hz touch sampling rate, and supports both HDR10 and HDR10+, though Dolby Vision is not supported. It is protected by Gorilla Armor 2 damage-resistant glass and includes an Always-On Display mode. The device does not have a secondary screen, and Dolby Vision playback is not available.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 is driven by the Samsung Exynos 2600, a 2 nm chipset with a 10-thread CPU configured at 1 x 3.8, 3 x 3.25, and 6 x 2.75 GHz, supported by big.LITTLE architecture and Heterogeneous Multi-Processing for efficient workload distribution. It scores 3445 in Geekbench 6 single-core and 11611 in multi-core testing, with a thermal design power of 6W. The chip integrates an Xclipse 960 GPU clocked at 985 MHz with DirectX 12 support, alongside integrated LTE and ARM TrustZone security. The device ships with 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM running at 4200 MHz, a maximum supported memory ceiling of 24 GB, a memory bandwidth of 64 GB/s, and 512 GB of internal storage, with full 64-bit and multithreading support throughout.

The Galaxy S26 features a multi-lens rear camera system with three sensors at 50, 12, and 10 MP and apertures of f/1.8, f/2.2, and f/2.4, covering a focal range of 13 mm to 67 mm with 3x optical zoom. The rear setup uses CMOS BSI sensors with optical image stabilization, phase-detection autofocus, touch autofocus, and continuous autofocus during video, while a dual-tone 2-LED flash assists in low-light situations — laser autofocus is not included. Video recording reaches 8K at 30 fps with HDR10 recording support, slow-motion capability, and timelapse, though Dolby Vision recording and 3D video are not available. Manual controls extend to exposure, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and white balance, and the camera also supports RAW capture, burst mode, in-camera panoramas, and a built-in HDR mode. The 12 MP front camera has an f/2.2 aperture and is a single-lens unit positioned on the front of the display — not under it — and has no dedicated flash.

The Galaxy S26 runs Android 16 and includes a broad set of privacy controls, covering location access, camera and microphone permissions, clipboard warnings, and app tracking prevention, though Mail Privacy Protection and cross-site tracking blocking are not available. Customization options include dynamic theming, theme customization, dark mode, an extra dim mode, home screen widgets, and customizable notifications, while focus modes and Wi-Fi password sharing are absent. On the productivity side, the device supports split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, full-page scrolling screenshots, a media picker, sharing intents, Live Text selection, and can function as a PC. It also offers on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, multi-user support, app offloading, the ability to play games while they download, a battery health check tool, a child lock, and phone tracking — though it does not receive direct OS updates from the vendor and lacks a Quick Start feature.

The Galaxy S26 is equipped with a non-removable 4300 mAh rechargeable battery that supports fast wired charging at 25W, wireless charging at 15W, and reverse wireless charging at 4.5W, giving it a versatile range of replenishment options. A charger is not included in the box. The device also features an ultra power-saving mode, a battery level indicator, and the battery health check noted in the OS section, rounding out a fairly complete set of battery management tools.

The Galaxy S26 has stereo speakers and two microphones, but omits a 3.5 mm headphone jack and does not include a built-in radio. For wireless audio, it supports aptX, aptX Adaptive, and aptX Lossless, as well as LDAC, covering a wide range of high-quality Bluetooth audio codecs, though aptX HD specifically is not available.

The Galaxy S26 supports 5G cellular connectivity alongside Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, 6E, and 7, and accepts two physical SIMs plus two eSIMs, with no external memory slot available. Bluetooth 5.4 and NFC are both present, and the USB Type-C port runs at USB 3.2, though there is no HDMI output. Download speeds reach up to 14790 Mbits/s and upload up to 4900 Mbits/s. For location and sensing, the device includes GPS with Galileo support, a gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, and barometer, while ANT+ is also supported; motion tracking, optical tracking, infrared, and a heart rate monitor are not included. Security is handled through a fingerprint scanner, with no iris scanner or 3D facial recognition on board, and a stylus is not included. Emergency SOS via satellite and crash detection are absent, and the device is not DLNA-certified. SAR values are rated at 1.13 W/kg (US head), 0.92 W/kg (US body), 1.29 W/kg (EU head), and 1.36 W/kg (EU body).

The Galaxy S26 includes a video light for use during video recording, while its display is flat rather than curved and uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.