Samsung’s latest budget-friendly flagship doesn’t make any major mistakes, but a price hike may see it hard-pressed to enjoy the same crowd-pleaser status as its predecessors.
- Premium design
- Fantastic performance
- Solid battery life
- Pricier than you’d want for a budget-friendly device
- No magnetic Qi 2 wireless charging
While the upper-end of Samsung’s A-Series has sometimes struggled to hold its own against its Pixel counterpart, the manufacturer’s more modestly priced spin on its flagship formula has now come under fresh pressure from the likes of the iPhone 17e.
For what it’s worth, the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE doesn’t lose too much of the line’s past charms. However, a more expensive price and overly familiar hardware leave it looking worse for wear (and value) than its predecessors.
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE 128GB Plans
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#1
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Optus
$60 Optus Choice Plus Plan
$54.94/mth
Min. cost $1,187.40
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#2
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Vodafone
$58 Small Plan
$60.91/mth
Min. cost $1,193.76
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#3
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Telstra
$74 Basic Upfront Mobile Plan
$94.79/mth
Min. cost $1,222.76
Link not supplied
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Prestige premium
In fairness, what's here is almost a match for last year’s Galaxy S25 FE. The front of the Galaxy S26 FE is built around a 6.7-inch OLED screen clocked at a 120Hz refresh rate. Like its siblings, the device features an aluminium frame and an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.
However, unlike the standard Samsung Galaxy S26 and upwards, what’s here is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus Plus rather than the more comprehensive Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The former is a custom version of the first generation Gorilla Glass Victus that offers extra scratch protection but doesn't match the drop resistance offered by its second-generation counterpart.
The screen on the Galaxy S26 FE is also a little dimmer compared to its siblings. However, if you’re not holding the two side-by-side and are lucky enough to avoid dropping the device, you might not pick up on those differences. For the most part, the Galaxy S26 FE is lean and likable. It’s not as lightweight or slim as Samsung’s other premium devices, but it gets pretty close.
It’s a similar story when it comes to camera hardware. The back of the Galaxy S26 FE is home to a triple-lens rear camera that consists of a 50MP main lens, a 12MP ultrawide lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens.
This setup is comparable to but not quite on par with the trinity found on the back of the Galaxy S26. Depending on the day, that can feel like either a sign of how close the Galaxy S26 FE is to its namesake or how little Samsung seems to care about the standard option in its flagship lineup nowadays.
In either case, the Galaxy S26 FE’s camera delivered results that were neither bad nor brilliant. It’s not as capable as you’d want given the price, but it compares more favourably to mid-rangers like the $749 Galaxy A57.
As you’d expect, low-light performance is a little more uneven. It’s good enough to get the job done most of the time, though those who care more about the camera on their smartphone will likely be better served elsewhere.
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE camera samples
For a sense of what the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE can do fresh out of the box, check out the image gallery below. Click or tap on any photo to see a larger version.
Worry and wireless-charging free
When it comes to hardware, the processor inside the Galaxy S26 FE – the Exynos 2500 – is the only meaningful upgrade it offers over last year’s Galaxy S25 FE. That silicon is supported by a generous 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 4,900mAh battery. If you shop around, those specs aren’t that hard to beat. However, in practice, they mostly get the job done.
Samsung’s Exynos processor can’t keep up with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipsets, but it still does a decent job of getting graphically intensive games like Diablo Immortal and Destiny Rising to run well and everyday performance didn’t suffer too much during multitasking.
Having said that, this experience in and of itself is not a huge improvement on the experience you’d get from last year’s Galaxy S25 FE. In some ways, the main upside to buying the S26 FE is that you’ll benefit from a slightly larger window of software support. Out of the box, the Galaxy S26 FE ships with seven years of software and security updates.
In fact, on the whole, Samsung is putting a bigger emphasis on the software powering the thriftiest entry on its roster of premium smartphones. The Galaxy S26 FE is the first non-foldable Galaxy handset to launch with One UI 9. That inclusion brings with it a number of UI tweaks and new features, including upgraded versions of the Smart Switch, Now Brief, Now Nudge and Circle to Search. It’s all nice to have, though little of it feels all that transformative to the everyday experience of using your smartphone.
If anything, it feels like Samsung has stepped off the gas a little when it comes to pushing AI to the forefront of the user experience – which mostly works out for the better.
While I am slightly irked that the Galaxy S26 FE lacks proper Qi 2 wireless charging, the device mostly met my expectations when it came to battery life. As with most premium smartphones nowadays, I could comfortably get through a regular day of usage and then some. Two days might be a stretch though.
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE - Final Thoughts
The Galaxy S26 FE ticks a lot of the usual boxes but it’s hard not to note that it is more expensive than last year’s device and it doesn’t have much to show for it. It’s easy to wonder if whatever you’re gaining is really worth the savings that you might be able to find elsewhere.
Much like its more costly counterparts, this year’s thrifty Samsung flagship feels caught between a rock, a hard place, and a taller asking price. It's a good phone with a bad price-tag.
If you can get past that, you’ll likely be plenty satisfied with the experience that the Galaxy S26 FE offers. However, where earlier incarnations of this particular product felt defined by their respective strengths and weaknesses, this latest spin on the Galaxy FE formula never quite rebuts the reality that the revised price point makes it difficult to recommend.
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Fergus Halliday
Digital Content Editor
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