After months of leaks, rumors, and speculation the Samsung Galaxy S26 series is finally here, but were these phones worth the wait?
We won’t be able to answer that definitively until we’ve put them through full reviews, but what is clear is that they’re in many ways iterative updates, and with the exception of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy Display they arguably lack for standout features.
1. Silicon-carbon batteries
The OnePlus 15, Xiaomi 17 Ultra, and a number of other phones all have silicon-carbon batteries — a tech that allows them to boost capacities well beyond the roughly 5,000mAh that most phones previously tended to top out at.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 series though doesn’t, with even the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra having just a 5,000mAh battery — a capacity that looks distinctly lacking in the face of the roughly 7,000-9,000mAh batteries we’re starting to see from some brands.
The good news is that Samsung claims to be working on offering silicon-carbon batteries in future, but that doesn’t help us right now.
2. Built-in magnets
One rumor we heard numerous times in the run up to the Samsung Galaxy S26 line’s launch was that these phones would have built-in magnets, allowing you to attach magnetic chargers and other accessories to the phone, much like Apple’s MagSafe system.
Sadly, this wasn’t to be, with Samsung instead selling cases with built-in magnets, which then let you attach other accessories — but if you don’t want to put your phone in a case, or prefer the design of a magnet-free case, then you can’t use this system.
That’s disappointing but not entirely surprising, as while the tech exists to do this on Android, manufacturers have seemed slow to embrace it. So far, Google’s Pixel 10 series are the only high-profile Android phones with magnets built in.
3. Powered-off Find Hub tracking
One small but useful feature that you can get on Pixel phones but not yet on any Samsung Galaxy is powered-off Find Hub tracking.
With this, you’d be able to use Google’s Find Hub network to locate your phone even when it’s switched off. But based on some code spotted by Android Authority, this doesn’t appear to be an option with any Samsung Galaxy S26 models.
While you can locate an offline Galaxy S26 using Samsung’s SmartThings Find, the phone still needs to be switched on, it just doesn’t require an internet connection. So Google’s solution is better, but so far it’s limited to Pixels.
4. An orange colorway
Apple sells the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max in a divisive but definitely flashy Cosmic Orange shade, and early reports suggested one or more phones in the Samsung Galaxy S26 series might be sold in a similar color.
Yet, that hasn’t happened, with the three handsets instead sold in Black, White, Sky Blue, and Cobalt Violet, along with Samsung store-exclusive options of Silver Shadow and Pink Gold.
That’s not an awful selection but there’s nothing here that’s as bright, interesting, or unusual as an orange option could have been, so that — or another showy shade — would have been nice to see.
5. High-power charging
Samsung actually has upgraded the charging power of some phones in the Galaxy S26 series, with the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra both supporting 25W wireless charging (up from 15W on their predecessors), and the S26 Ultra additionally getting upgraded to 60W wired charging, rather than the 45W of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
However, the standard Samsung Galaxy S26 has had no such upgrades, with this still topping out at 25W for wired and 15W for wireless. And even in the case of the Ultra with its 60W wired and 25W wireless charging, it’s still miles behind some rivals.
The OnePlus 15 for example supports 120W wired charging and 50W wireless, while the Xiaomi 17 similarly supports 100W wired charging and 50W wireless, and it’s a similar story with a lot of Chinese brands.
So along with an upgrade to silicon-carbon batteries, we’d have really liked to see some more charging power on offer from Samsung’s latest phones.
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