The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is here and, in a way, it feels like it has been with us all along. The S25 FE was overall a decent upgrade over the S24 FE. The list of improvements includes a better bin of the Exynos 2400 chipset, a bigger 4,900mAh battery (+200mAh) and it got faster 45W wired charging (up from 25W, wireless is 15W on both). The S25 FE also brought a new 12MP sensor for the selfie cam (up from 10MP) and a more premium Enhanced Armor Aluminum body (the S24 FE used regular aluminum).
Okay, these are not the kind of upgrades that will have you shouting in the streets, but consider the S26 FE upgrades over the S25 FE: Exynos 2500. That’s it. Actually, there are some downgrades too – Samsung doesn’t mention Armor Aluminum for the S26 FE (just aluminum) and the USB-C port is 2.0. Check our specs comparison, there isn’t much to show for a year’s worth of work. And there is some more bad news too.
The starting price for the Galaxy S26 FE (128GB storage) is $700 – that’s $50 more than the launch price of the S25 FE. We’ve seen the S26+ drop to $850 on occasion and that’s with more RAM (12GB instead of 8GB) and 256GB storage as base. Of course, S26 FE’s price will fall too – it will have to find the right spot between the S26+ and the A57.
Galaxy S26 FE
8/128GB
8/256GB
8/512GB*
US
$700
$800
-
UK
£700
£800
£950
EU
€800
€900
€1,100
* not available in some regions
Admittedly, $700 only buys you an old iPhone 16 with 128GB storage from Apple (the 17 is $800). Even the Pixel 11 (256GB) starts at $900. So, compared to Samsung’s primary rivals, $700 is a competitive price. Once you start looking at brands outside of these three, however, things get less rosy for the new FE model.
There are the usual Samsung perks to consider, though. The phone will receive OS and security updates for 7 years and it starts with the new Android 17 and One UI 9. One UI 9 is highly customizable and it offers wired DeX too.
So, how do you feel about the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE – can you see yourself owning one? Would you rather have another Galaxy instead?