The new Galaxy S26 FE is already out of date: A Practical Look
It was one of my phone highlights of 2025.
After years of toil, Samsung finally nailed its Fan Edition. The Galaxy S25 FE ticked all the boxes for most people, offering superb value for money. Indeed, it still sits at the top of our best mid-range phones guide almost a year on, which is extremely rare.
How on earth do you follow that up? The Galaxy S26 FE had an unenviable task, especially in the current climate. And sadly, after going hands-on with the new model, most of my fears have been realised.
Where are the upgrades?
The Galaxy S26 FE is an upper mid-range phone (by our £300/$300-£700/$700 criterion) with a 6.7-inch, 120Hz display. A triple rear camera includes a 50Mp main, 12Mp ultrawide and 8Mp 3x telephoto, plus a 12Mp selfie lens. A 4900mAh battery is supported by 45W wired and 15W wireless speeds, while Samsung’s AI-infused One UI skin delivers a slick, polished UI.
Sound familiar? Yes, those are the exact same specs as last year’s Galaxy S25 FE.
Sure, the ultrawide supposedly delivers better HDR and the selfie camera has a wider field of view, but will they deliver meaningful improvements to photography? I’m not about to claim that the brightly-lit studio in which I tried it out is representative of real world conditions, but early signs suggest not. The S26 FE will likely remain a highly capable camera phone that’s one step down from the best on the market.
Which is absolutely fine – provided there are credible reasons elsewhere to buy one. But there aren’t.
Ultimately, it feels as though most of the upgrades are concentrated within One UI 9, Samsung’s Android 17 skin. The AI-powered Now Brief summaries will now support custom, user-generated cards. The proactive Now Nudge AI prompts are being expanded to include third-party apps such as Google Maps. And the useful Horizontal Lock feature brings super-steady video.
But surely all these features will be coming to the Galaxy S25 FE soon? Samsung has committed to offering that phone six more years of OS and security updates, so it’d be extremely disappointing if it missed out on anything One UI 9 has to offer.
Even the chipset is a compromise
When all else fails on the upgrade front, at least you can rely on the chipset to deliver. Right?
Wrong. While the Galaxy S26 FE’s new Exynos 2500 is new compared to the S25 FE, it’s instantly out of date. Samsung launched this silicon back in June 2025, and has since moved from its 3nm process to a more efficient 2nm on the Exynos 2600.
By sticking at 8GB of RAM, Samsung is making a very clear statement: either upgrade, or miss out
Offering the same chipset as the Galaxy S26 series (at least in Europe) would’ve been a real boon for the S26 FE. Instead, you’ll have to be content with only half an upgrade.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
To make matters worse, all variants of the S26 FE have just 8GB of RAM. That’s absolutely fine at the moment, but it undermines Samsung’s commitment to seven years of OS and security updates.
In the AI era, 12GB is widely accepted as the necessary baseline for effective processing. Indeed, Google’s new agentic Gemini Intelligence tools explicitly require at least 12GB. By sticking at 8GB of RAM, Samsung is making a very clear statement: either upgrade, or miss out.
Of course, a comparative lack of AI could become a selling point as the backlash against AI intensifies. But reduced access to features is never a good look for a new phone.
Colour me unimpressed
Perhaps the S26 FE’s one saving grace is the colour selection. There are three to choose from this year, with the standard black ‘Graphite’ joined by two new additions in ‘Pistachio’ and ‘Blueberry’.
Unless you plan to use the S26 FE case-free, new colours are a terrible reason to upgrade
I particularly enjoyed Blueberry in person, with its distinctly more purple hue than the S25 FE’s Navy, but all three have a clear aesthetic. In the era of near-identical cookie-cutter phones, this is appreciated.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
The question is: are fancy new colours enough of a reason to buy a new phone? With an estimated 78% of smartphone buyers purchasing a new case within a week, you’ll likely be covering it up anyway.
Samsung even encourages you to, withholding built-in Qi2 magnets in favour of building the feature into cases. So, unless you plan to use the S26 FE case-free, new colours are a terrible reason to upgrade.
Modest price rise doesn’t tell the full story
When I first saw the Galaxy S26 FE’s starting price, I was pleasantly surprised. At £699/$699, it’s only £50/$50 more than last year’s S25 FE at launch, despite RAM prices skyrocketing since then.
However, that’ll only get you a measly 128GB of storage, which simply isn’t enough for most people. To get 256GB, you’ll be paying £799/$799, which is a £100/$50 hike. Meanwhile, the 512GB variant is now £949 – that’s a huge £150 more expensive, and it’s not even available in the US.
The S26 FE isn’t a safe bet for future-proofing
All are available to pre-order from the Samsung website now, ahead of an on-sale date of 4 September.
But ultimately, most people will be paying significantly more for a phone which doesn’t advance the experience in any meaningful way. All signs point to the Galaxy S26 FE being another great phone, but so was its predecessor, which is regularly discounted.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
With neither having enough RAM for Gemini Intelligence, the S26 FE isn’t a safe bet for future-proofing. So, why not save your money and get the older model? Your bank balance will certainly thank you.
Of course, these impressions come after a short hands-on session with the Galaxy S26 FE. Will longer-term review testing reveal any key reasons to buy it? That remains to be seen.
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