The cost of smartphones is rising, but when the cheaper model in your flagship range costs more than a the higher-spec model that already exists, you have to wonder about its positioning. As Samsung announces the Galaxy S26 FE, the “fan edition” of its flagship device, the flagship Galaxy S26 is currently available for less.
Sure, I’m using a little poetic licence here: the 256GB Galaxy S26 FE costs £799 compared to the discounted 256GB Galaxy S26 at £779 on Amazon.co.uk, so based on storage, the older and more powerful device is cheaper.
But I’ll hold onto my position, because the Galaxy S26 models are now a little old. While the hardware is still top notch, they will be replaced in early 2027, while the Galaxy S26 FE will continue with a longer run and that will see some significant discounts – the Galaxy S25 FE, for example, has been as cheap as £449 just recently, while the Galaxy S25 has never been under £500.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Consider then that the Galaxy S26 FE has a larger display – more akin to the Galaxy S26 Plus – and the FE starts to make a little more sense. It’s a route to Samsung’s flagship experience without the cost, but you might have to wait before you buy it to feel the full effect.
The 6.7-inch AMOLED screen is the highlight, supporting 120Hz refresh rates and boosted to 1900 nits. That’s low by smartphone standards these days, but assuming that’s what you get in daylight use, then it’s bright enough.
The battery comes in at 4900mAh with 45W charging, while also supporting 15W wireless charging. It comes in 128, 256 and 512GB storage options and that 128GB option claims the cheapest price at £699, although that’s £50 more expensive than the Galaxy S25 FE. It sticks to 8GB RAM across all the models.
There isn’t a huge change to the cameras, with a 50-megapixel main, 12-megapixel ultrawide and 8-megapixel 3x optical telephoto appearing to be much the same as the previous iteration of this phone.
Instead, the changes come in new features delivered by One UI 9, including My FanCam (where you can lock onto a particular subject in a video), improved night shooting, and stabilised video. That sees some features from the recent Galaxy Z Fold 8 appearing at this lower level.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
That also suggests that these features will probably come to Samsung’s existing devices (to a certain extent), as Samsung continues its 7-year update policy with this phone.
Then we come to the hardware that runs it and this is one of the areas that the savings really come in. Rather than the flagship Snapdragon hardware in the Galaxy S26, you get the Exynos 2500. That’s not even the latest Samsung chip – the Exynos 2600 is in the Galaxy Z Flip 8 – and that’s where the performance difference will hit.
For some people, the daily performance of the Galaxy S26 FE will be perfectly smooth. In my brief testing of the phone I found the familiar Samsung interface to be fluid, while it’s updated with a collection of Galaxy AI features again pulled in by One UI 9.
So what’s the takeaway? The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is a big screen Samsung phone that delivers most of the features of the flagship. The build is slightly less opulent (although the Pistachio colour is lovely), it has less power, the cameras aren’t as sophisticated and the pricing is perhaps a little more than we’d want it to be on day one.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE will be available from 4 September.
