From WIRED · Simon Hill · · 3m
The Galaxy S26 FE costs more and gives less
Samsung raised the price $50, upgraded almost nothing, and quietly gutted the USB port.
In brief
Samsung raised the price $50, upgraded almost nothing, and quietly gutted the USB port. A good phone at the wrong price is still a bad buy. Wait for a sale, or take the regular S26 instead. Originally reported by WIRED.
Nice phone, wrong price
The Galaxy S26 FE scores 6 out of 10. It does most things well, but at $700 it sits in a spot where better phones already live.
“I'm just struggling to find a reason you should buy it at this price.”
Fifty dollars for a chip
Last year's S25 FE launched at $650 and earned a spot among the best cheap phones. The S26 FE adds a faster processor, raises the price to $700, and changes little else.
Looks like a flagship
Same glass back, same aluminum frame, same triple-lens island in the top left corner. Only the colors differ: pale green Pistachio, dark gray Graphite, indigo Blueberry.
“You could easily mistake the S26 FE for one of Samsung's flagship phones.”
Small physical gripes
IP68 means it survives a dunk in fresh water. The camera island stops the phone lying flat, and the under-screen fingerprint sensor sits lower than muscle memory expects.
Big screen, missing tricks
The 6.7-inch OLED runs at 120 Hz and stays legible outdoors. It is not LTPO, so the refresh rate cannot drop to save battery, and peak brightness is 1,900 nits against the S26's 3,000.
Fine until you push it
The Exynos 2500 handles browsing, messaging, photos, and casual gaming without complaint. Wuthering Waves dropped frames, glitched, then crashed.
Stingy base storage
128 GB and 8 GB of RAM fill up fast if you shoot a lot or game. Paying $100 for the 256 GB model still leaves you with 8 GB of RAM.
“I'd like to see 256 GB and 12 GB as standard.”
A day, maybe two
The 4,900-mAh battery ended most days near 20 percent. An hour of Monument Valley 2 took 10 percent; 20 minutes of Wuthering Waves took 7. Charging is 45-watt wired, 15-watt wireless, no Qi2 magnets.
The port went backwards
USB-C dropped from 3.2 Gen 1 to 2.0. Transfers cap at 480 Mbps, wired DeX is gone, and without DisplayPort Alt Mode you cannot drive smart glasses or a TV.
“One perplexing downgrade is the USB-C port.”
Bloatware on a $700 phone
One UI 9 is clean and customizable, with Call Screening and Now Brief worth using. Then there's preinstalled Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Spotify, Netflix, and Perplexity.
“Let me decide what apps I want.”
Cameras stand still
Identical to last year: 50-MP main, 12-MP ultrawide, 8-MP telephoto, 12-MP selfie. Daylight shots look great, 3X optical zoom is handy, and 30X digital zoom turns to mud.
Buy almost anything else
The regular S26 has been discounted to $700 with better everything. The S25 FE saves you $100. The Pixel 10a, Galaxy A37, Moto G Stylus, and Nothing Phone 4(a) Pro are all at least $200 cheaper.
What to remember
A good phone at the wrong price is still a bad buy. Wait for a sale, or take the regular S26 instead.
