Samsung Galaxy S26 FE review: offering premium experience

• By Marcia Sekhose
Published On: 23 September 2026 | 09:22 IST

The Galaxy S26 FE is Samsung’s latest ‘Fan Edition’ smartphone, bringing the flagship Galaxy S26 series experience to a more accessible price point. The handset boasts the same design language as the other Galaxy S26 lineup, along with long-term software support and Samsung’s latest One UI 9. While the hardware may not be quite as high-end as the flagship models, it remains capable enough to deliver a flagship-level experience.

Priced at Rs 79,999 in India, the Galaxy S26 FE enters a competitive segment with several capable alternatives. So, who should consider buying the Galaxy S26 FE? Let’s find out in our detailed review.

Verdict

The Galaxy S26 FE gets several important things right, including its premium design, excellent AMOLED display, versatile cameras, and long-term software support. Its performance is capable of handling most tasks, if not extended gaming sessions. Moreover, its 4,900mAh battery may seem smaller than what some rivals offer, but it delivers reliable endurance for casual usage. To sum it up for you, the Galaxy S26 FE makes a compelling case for buyers who prioritise Samsung’s software experience, display quality, and cameras.

Display, design: Large, bright and immersive

As mentioned above, the Galaxy S26 FE shares the same design language as the Galaxy S26 and S26+. In fact, it is similar in size to the Galaxy S26+, giving it a tall and relatively large form factor. Despite its size, the phone feels light in hand and is comfortable to hold. It also carries an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance, an aluminium frame, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on the front, which together create a sturdy, durable build.

You can read more about the Galaxy S26 FE’s design in our detailed first look here. The smartphone is available in three colour options: Blueberry, Graphite, and Pistachio.

Up front, the Galaxy S26 FE features a large 6.7-inch FHD+ (1080 × 2340 pixels) Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 1,900 nits of peak brightness. The display specifications are largely the same as those on the Galaxy S26 and S26+, although the peak brightness is lower on the FE. That said, the panel gets bright enough for comfortable outdoor use.

Samsung’s displays have always been a personal favourite, and the Galaxy S26 FE is no exception. The panel delivers vibrant, punchy colours that make not just watching content but even everyday scrolling feel more immersive. The slim bezels also leave plenty of screen real estate, which I particularly enjoyed while reading ‘manhwa’ (webtoon). The visuals take up almost the entire screen, while the rich colours make the artwork stand out.

The experience is further complemented by the stereo speakers, which get loud without compromising on clarity. The speakers also offer a fairly immersive, surround-sound-like experience, making the Galaxy S26 FE well-suited for watching videos and other forms of entertainment.

Cameras: Consistent and reliable

For photography, the Galaxy S26 FE features a 50MP primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and an 8MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and up to 30x digital zoom. For selfies, there’s a 12MP front camera. Overall, this is a versatile camera setup that covers most of the key use cases you’d expect from a smartphone in this segment. The handset captures good daylight images with accurate colours and plenty of detail. It also gets a 3x telephoto lens for zoom shots and portraits, although the results can lack some detail and sharpness.

For a better understanding, we compared the Galaxy S26 FE’s cameras with the OnePlus 15R, which has a 50MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 32MP front camera.

Daylight

In daylight photography, the OnePlus 15R captures images with finer details and superior dynamic range. However, the Galaxy S26 FE does a better job with colour accuracy and contrast, as the 15R tends to produce slightly oversaturated colours.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

OnePlus 15R

Ultra-wide

Moving on to the ultra-wide camera, the Galaxy S26 FE’s 12MP sensor captures better details and colour consistency than the OnePlus 15R. The latter also tends to overexpose shots, making the sky appear unnatural. While the 15R offers a wider dynamic range, the S26 FE does a better job of controlling distortion.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

OnePlus 15R

Selfies

Coming to selfies, the Galaxy S26 FE delivers more natural-looking skin tones and better colour consistency, while the OnePlus 15R produces images that may look more appealing for social media. Both phones capture a similar level of detail, although the S26 FE has a slight edge. The S26 FE also performs significantly better in terms of dynamic range.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

OnePlus 15R

Portraits

Portraits tell a slightly different story. Although it lacks a dedicated telephoto lens, the OnePlus 15R reproduces natural-looking skin tones and the subject’s T-shirt colour better. It also captures slightly better details and clarity, although there is noticeable smoothing. This doesn’t detract from the overall natural look, and it preserves shadows well. Edge detection and bokeh are closely matched, but the 15R produces a slightly more natural-looking portrait overall.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

OnePlus 15R

Low-light

The Galaxy S26 FE has a clear lead in low-light photography. It handles light flares and exposure better than the OnePlus 15R, while also delivering less noise and better details. In terms of colour accuracy, the 15R tends to add too much contrast, resulting in a less natural look. The S26 FE, on the other hand, produces colours that appear closer to reality.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

OnePlus 15R

Night mode

With Night Mode enabled, the OnePlus 15R shows a slight improvement in controlling light flares and exposure. However, the Galaxy S26 FE continues to have the edge in noise control and detail retention. Colours also look more natural and accurate on the S26 FE.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE

OnePlus 15R

Overall, the Galaxy S26 FE delivers a more consistent camera experience, particularly in low light and with its ultra-wide camera. The OnePlus 15R has its strengths in daylight details and portraits, but the S26 FE’s better colour accuracy, dynamic range, and noise control give it the edge overall.

Software: Latest version with useful upgrades

When it comes to software, Samsung has always had an edge, offering an intuitive and interactive experience with plenty of customisation options. The brand was also among the first to extend software support to seven years, making its phones a strong choice for long-term use. The Galaxy S26 FE has an advantage here, running the latest One UI 9 based on Android 17 out of the box, with Samsung promising seven OS upgrades and seven years of security updates.

One UI 9 brings some subtle visual changes that add to the overall experience. For instance, the minimised music player now displays the music waveform, adding an interactive touch that is reminiscent of older desktop music players. The brightness and volume sliders are also thicker, making them easier to adjust, while the media player can be resized into a square tile or expanded into a full-length widget. These additions may seem minor, but they make the interface feel more polished and add a little more personality to everyday use.

Performance: good for everyday use

The Galaxy S26 FE is powered by the Exynos 2500 chipset, the same processor found in last year’s Galaxy Z Flip7. Built on a 3nm process, this deca-core chipset delivers respectable performance in our in-house benchmark tests. The phone scored 2,471,984 on AnTuTu, while Geekbench returned scores of 2,346 in the single-core test and 7,911 in the multi-core test. These results indicate that the Galaxy S26 FE is well-equipped to handle everything from everyday tasks to more demanding workloads.

In real-world usage, we did not encounter any noticeable performance issues. Our usage primarily involved multitasking, scrolling through social media, streaming content, and some light gaming, all of which the phone handled with ease.

However, the phone does tend to heat up (not uncomfortably) slightly during extended gaming sessions or multitasking. After 30 minutes of playing COD Mobile and BGMI, the average temperature increase was slightly higher than what we recorded on some of its rivals. On the positive side, the Galaxy S26 FE maintains good frame rates in both games, making it a capable gaming phone despite the thermal concerns.

Battery: ideal for casual users

Battery life is not the Galaxy S26 FE’s biggest strength. The phone packs a modest 4,900mAh battery, which is considerably smaller than what many similarly priced rivals offer, with some featuring batteries of 7,000mAh or more. This difference is reflected in both our benchmark results.

However, in everyday use, the phone can comfortably last through most of the day. Heavier usage, such as gaming, video recording, or prolonged hotspot use, may have you reaching for the charger by the end of the day. This shouldn’t be a major concern, though, thanks to the 45W wired charging support, which is adequate for the sub-5,000mAh battery. You will need to purchase a compatible PD charger separately, but with one, the S26 FE can charge from 20 to 100 percent in around an hour. The smartphone also supports 15W wireless charging.

Final Verdict

The Galaxy S26 FE brings much of what makes Samsung’s flagship phones appealing to a more accessible price point. It has a premium and comfortable design, an excellent AMOLED display, capable cameras, and one of the strongest software support commitments in the segment. One UI 9 also adds a polished and feature-rich experience, while the Exynos 2500 delivers reliable performance for everyday use and gaming.

The smartphone comes with some compromises, particularly for power users, in terms of thermal efficiency and battery life. However, it remains a compelling option for those who prioritise Samsung’s software experience, display quality, cameras, and long-term software support. If these are your key priorities, the Galaxy S26 FE is worth considering.

Editor’s rating: 8.5/10

Reasons to buy

• The handset’s display produces bright and punchy colours, while offering a smooth scrolling experience.
• Despite its tall and large frame, the phone is quite lightweight.
• It comes with seven years of software support, making it highly reliable for long-term use.
• The phone’s dual stereo speakers can get pretty loud without compromising on clarity.

Reasons to skip

• Heavy usage may drain the battery before the end of the day.
• The phone may get slightly warm during extended gaming sessions.