Samsung launched a new flagship series last week, including models Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 Ultra. This brought only a few changes year-on-year, most of them in addition promade the last mentioned model, at least the one promedium. But let's take a look at how the smallest model, the basic one, is doing. Galaxy S26 compared to last generation.
Design and display
Galaxy S26 and S25 look very similar at first glance, at least from the front. The front is dominated by a flat display with thin bezels and a centered round notch. pro front camera. Back side of the Galaxy S26 has undergone more fundamental changes - the cameras are housed in an oval module and are surrounded by a glass design element, which we first saw on the jigsaw puzzle Galaxy Z Fold5.
Galaxy S26
- Dimensions: 149,6 x 71,7 x 7,2 mm
- Weight: 167 g
Galaxy S25
- Dimensions: 146,9 x 70,5 x 7,2 mm
- Weight: 162 g
Both phones feature Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back and an aluminum frame. Both are IP68-rated, meaning they can withstand being submerged in water up to 1,5 meters for 30 minutes.
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Regarding the display Galaxy S26, its specifications are as follows:
- Diagonal: 6,3 inches, Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X
- Distinction: 1080 x 2340px
- Refresh rate: variawith max120 Hz
- Peak brightness: 2600 rivets
Galaxy S26 in this area aboutproIt offers two changes to its predecessors. The first is a 0,1-inch larger diagonal. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on your preferences, but 6,3 inches is still considered compact for today's smartphones. Pro comparison: screen Galaxy S26+ has a diagonal of 6,7 inches and S26 Ultra 6,9 inches, so you can easily distinguish the base model from them at first glance.
Performance
Galaxy S26 powered by two chipsets: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy from Qualcomm and the Exynos 2600 from Samsung. The former is available in the US and Chinese markets, while the latter is available in the rest of the world, including Europe. Both new flagship chips are significantly faster than the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxywhich beats in Galaxy S25, also from the perspective of a neural unit, so manages to process related tasks faster with artificial intelligence. The Exynos 2600 is also the world's first mobile chip manufactured with 2nm procesium, which means it is more energy efficient (Snapdragon 8 Elite is manufactured in 3nm proby the way).
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Both chips are otherwise paired with 12GB of RAM and 256 or 512GB of storage. In this regard, the phone brings a welcome improvement, which is the doubling of the base storage capacity.
Cameras
In the camera area, I Galaxy S26 very disappointing. For the first time in a row, the basic model series Galaxy S got the exact same back photo set. In other words, this one:
- Main camera: 50 MPx
- Telephoto lens: 10 MPx, 3x optical zoom
- Wide angle lens: 12 MPx, 120° field of view
- Front camera: 12 MPx
Yes, Samsung for cameras Galaxy S26 didn't change anything at all, even though this lineup (except for the front camera) first brought already Galaxy S22 four years ago. For the model Ultra Samsung has at least improved the brightness of its lenses (specifically for the main sensor and telephoto lens). It really doesn't make sense to me, proThe Korean giant recycles the same photo set for the umpteenth time, improving it over the years for the tallest (that is, except for the standard telephoto lens, which is still 10 megapixel(old). Hopefully I will see improvements in this area. Galaxy S27 to Galaxy S26 will surprise with software improvements.
Battery and charging
Galaxy S26 draws energy from a battery with a capacity of 4300 mAh, which is a year-on-year increase of 300 mAh. In practice, this increase could mean several hours more battery life, or just over a day.
When it comes to charging, Samsung has prepared another big disappointment for me. Charging speed 25 W for the 2026 flagship? Is the Korean giant serious? Even some of its mid-range models, such as the Galaxy A56 and A36, support higher charging speed (specifically 45 W). In this area, Samsung is far behind the competition, some of whose models support 100W or higher charging. (from 0 to 100 % thus recharge several times faster than basic flagships Galaxy). Does Samsung really think it's normal for a user to wait almost an hour for a full charge on a 2026 flagship?
Unfortunately, wireless charging has not been accelerated either, remaining at 15 watts.proyou to that prothe mid-range model jumped to 20 watts year-on-year and the top model to 25 watts.
Price
Galaxy S26 will be from March 11th progive at the following prices:
- 256GB + 12GB RAM – 23,999 CZK / 899,99 $ / 999 € / 879 £ / ₹ 87,999
- 512GB + 12GB RAM – 29,499 CZK / 1,099 $ / 1,199 € / 979 £ / ₹ 1,07,99
In the Czech Republic, in the case of basic memory variaThe price of the nty did not change year-on-year, but in the case of the higher one it increased by almost 2,500 CZK, which made many fans Galaxy It certainly won't please.
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Overall Galaxy S26 oproThe predecessors bring very few changes. The display size is nice, but some people may prefer a smaller diagonal, the increase in battery capacity is welcome, but in practice it does not make a significant difference.proIt seems that we were expecting better performance thanks to the new chipsets. The biggest improvement is the doubling of the base storage capacity. But I would have liked the camera and charging speed improvements much more. I can only hope that Samsung will do this with Galaxy S27 should be considered a priority.
You can pre-order a series at Mobil Pohotovosti Galaxy S26 from 600 CZK per month, with a discount of up to 18,800 CZK and especially with a free 3-year warranty. More at mp.cz/samsung-galaxy-S26.
For that price, it's not worth it.