Samsung launched the Galaxy S25 smartphone a couple of months back. This has a slightly bigger 6.3-inch 120Hz LTPO panel and a similar camera but gets a slightly bigger 4300mAh battery and the Exynos 2600 processor. Even though it is minor, is this a good upgrade to the Galaxy S25? Let us dive into the review to find out.
| Box Contents |
| Camera |
| Battery Life |
| Conclusion |
Box Contents
- Samsung Galaxy S26 12GB RAM, 256GB storage version in Sky Blue
colour - USB Type-C to C Cable
- SIM ejector tool
- Quick Start Guide and Warranty information
Display, Hardware and Design
The phone comes with a 6.3-inch Full HD+ Infinity-O Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080×2340 pixels at about 409 PPI and an aspect ratio of 20:9. The display is bright, thanks to 2600 nits of peak brightness.
It offers good color reproduction, and the sunlight legibility is good as well. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, same as the older models. There are minimal symmetrical bezels around the screen.
It has a 120Hz refresh rate screen that offers a fluid user experience with smoother animations, scrolling, and gaming. It uses an LTPO panel for a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate so it can save power, especially if you are using AOD. In the gaming mode, it offers a 240Hz touch sampling rate.
The phone doesn’t have DC dimming, PWM dimming, or any other low-brightness anti-flicker mode that is present in some AMOLED-screen phones in the price range. I didn’t notice any screen flicker issues in low brightness on the phone. There are ProScaler and mDNIe features. It doesn’t have a notification LED, but there is an always-on display.
On the top, there is a 12-megapixel camera in the tiny punch hole that we had seen in older models. The earpiece is present on the top edge that doubles up as a secondary speaker. The punch hole is small, and it is not intrusive.
There is a small bezel below the screen. The phone has an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that is present towards the middle.
The phone has an Armor Aluminum 2 frame that has a matte finish. This offers a good grip, and the phone doesn’t slip out of your hands. You can see the antenna bands all around. Coming to the button placements, the power button and the volume rockers are present on the right side. There is nothing on the left side. The dual SIM slot, USB Type-C port, and the loudspeaker grill are on the bottom. The secondary microphone is on the top.
On the back there is a familiar triple camera module arranged in a single line, but there is a new camera ring. There is a single LED flash next to the module. Even though the phone has a 6.3-inch screen, it is compact to hold. It is 7.2mm thick and weighs 167 grams, the same as the predecessor even with a slightly bigger battery.
In addition to the sky blue color variant that we have, the phone also comes in Cobalt Violet, White, Black colours in India. There are also online-exclusive Pink Gold and Silver Shadow colours. This comes with dust and water resistance in freshwater to a depth of 1.5 meter for up to 30 minutes, with IP68 certification.
Camera
- 50MP main camera with LED Flash, 1/1.57″ Samsung S5KGN3 sensor, f/1.8 aperture, OIS
- 12MP 120° Ultra Wide sensor, f/2.2 aperture
- 10MP Telephoto lens with 1/3.94″ Samsung S5K3K1 sensor, f/2.4 aperture, 3x optical zoom, OIS
- 12MP front camera with 1/3.2″ Samsung S5K3LU sensor, f/2.2 aperture
There are no changes in the camera sensors compared to the S25. You can choose the 50MP option from the aspect ratio settings on the top, and the default output is 12MP instead of 12.5MP after pixel binning. It also has AR stickers, a scene optimizer, portrait video, director’s view, hyperlapse, and more modes. The Expert RAW mode is now present in the camera app instead of a separate app.
Coming to the image quality, daylight shots are brilliant, and it captures in 12MP resolution after pixel binning. The camera captures a good amount of detail and creates well-exposed photos with good dynamic range and detailing. Dynamic range can further be improved by enabling HDR mode from the settings, which automatically turns on HDR when needed. Apart from the 3x telephoto zoom camera, the standard digital zoom is also good. The 10x and 20x zoomed photos are good. Autofocus speeds are fast and accurate. Ultra-wide shots from the 12MP camera are good.
There is no macro mode or camera, but you can use 2x from the main camera or use the 3x telephoto for close-ups, which is good. Live focus is good at detecting the edges. Low-light performance is good, which can be improved further with night mode that offers more details. Images with flash are good and are not overpowering.
The 12-megapixel front camera is good, capturing brilliant shots. Wide-angle mode takes images in 12-megapixel resolution, while normal mode takes images in 8.6-megapixel. Software blur in the live focus mode has good edge detection even in low light. Overall, there are not many changes in the camera quality from the predecessor, even though there is a change in the ISP.
Check out the camera samples.
The S26 offers 8K video recording at 30 fps. There is 4K UHD video recording at 60 fps, Super Steady 1080p video at 60 fps, Super Slo-mo 720p video support at 960 fps, slow motion 1080p video support at 240 fps, and Hyperlapse 4K video support at 30 fps.
The normal stabilization works with both the ultra-wide and main cameras, but only the main camera has OIS. The Horizon Lock mode lets you shoot a level video pretty much regardless of which way you rotate it around the axis perpendicular to its plane at up to 2K resolution.
You can switch between normal, ultra-wide, telephoto, and front cameras when video recording is in progress, but only in 4K 30fps or less. There is also HDR10+ recording that is enabled by default, and it supports up to 4K 60 fps.
Software, UI, and Apps
Coming to the software, the phone runs on Android 16, and it recently got April 2026 Android security patch. Similar to the Galaxy S25 series, this will also get seven generations of OS upgrades and seven years of security updates.
On top of Android 16, it has the latest Samsung One UI 8.5 with some new features. There is ‘Now Nudge & Now Brief’ offering contextual, timely suggestions; conversational Bixby; and third-party integrations.
One UI 8.5 enhances Photo Assist for continuous image generation and editing without saving each step, with edit history available for review. Quick Share now recognizes people in photos and suggests sharing with relevant contacts. Audio Broadcast enables communication with nearby LE Audio-supported devices through Auracast for group audio scenarios.
Storage Share allows access to files from other Galaxy devices—including tablets, PCs, and TVs—directly in the My Files app and enables remote access to smartphone files. To address device security and software lifespan, Samsung has included Private Album features and its proprietary Knox Matrix protection.
The device maintenance option lets you manage your device’s battery life, storage, RAM usage, and security all in one place. It still comes only in 256GB and 512GB options in India with UFS 4.1 storage. The 256GB model, which we have, has 221.4GB free space. Out of 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, about 11.36GB is usable and 4.5GB is free when default apps are running in the background. There is up to 12GB RAM expansion.
Apart from the usual set of utility apps and Google Apps, the smartphone comes with Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, and Microsoft apps—Microsoft 365 Copilot, OneDrive, LinkedIn, and Outlook. You get the option to install apps when you are setting up the phone, which you can choose not to. The phone doesn’t have ads but shows notifications of new Samsung products occasionally.
Fingerprint sensor and Face unlock
The phone has an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. This uses acoustic-based technology that reflects the unique features of a user’s individual fingerprint and is engineered to allow the device to detect a larger fingerprint image than the normal optical sensor.
You can add up to 4 fingerprints, and adding a fingerprint is easy. It has support for face recognition, which doesn’t work well if the lighting is poor in the room or if you use hats or sunglasses. Both of these are protected by Knox security.
Music Player and Multimedia
YouTube Music is the default music player. It has an equalizer, Dolby Atmos, UHQ upscaler, and Adapt that can be enabled from the settings. All these improve the audio when listening through earphones, and Dolby Atmos also works with speakers. It doesn’t have FM Radio support. That said, audio through earphones is good. Loudspeaker output from the stereo speakers is good, but the S25+ and Ultra models have louder speakers.
The phone comes with Widevine L1 support out-of-the-box so that you can enjoy HD content on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other streaming apps. There is also HDR playback support for Netflix and YouTube.
Dual SIM and Connectivity
The Galaxy S26 has support for 5G SA and NSA, with support for several 5G network bands in India. Airtel and Jio 5G work out of the box. There is also 4G Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and support for LTE-A, or carrier aggregation. The Samsung dialer, similar to other Samsung phones, supports auto call recording.
Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi 7 802.11be, Wi-Fi Calling or Vo-Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.4, and GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, and QZSS. It has support for USB OTG and NFC that works with supported payment apps. This lacks UWB, which is present in S26+ and S26 Ultra models. There is a USB Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 1.
The Galaxy S26’s head SAR is at 1.284/Kg which is well under the limit in India, which is 1.6 W/kg (over 1 g). This is slightly more than the Galaxy S25.
Performance and Benchmarks
This is the first phone to be powered by Exynos 2600 chip. It is still a 10-core CPU and has tri-cluster CPU structure, but it is the industry’s first 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process.
It consists of 1 x ARM Cortex-C1 Ultra CPU for ultimate processing power at 3.8 GHz, 3 x ARM C1-Pro CPUs at 3.25 GHz and 6 x ARM C1-Pro CPUs at 2.75 GHz for optimal performance.
The company promises a 39% improvement in CPU computing performance and a reduction in response latency for on-device AI tasks. It has the new Samsung Xclipse 960 GPU with AMD RDNA 3 architecture and hardware ray tracing technology. It promises double the computing performance of the previous model and a 50% improvement in ray tracing.
We did not face any issues or frame drops in the graphic-intensive games like COD, BGMI, and Genshin Impact. At the launch, Samsung said the S26 has a redesigned vapor chamber and tailored thermal interface material (TIM) to support the high-performing customized processor during demanding sessions. By spreading heat more efficiently, they provide up to 29% enhanced heat dissipation for cooler operation, the company added.
In 3D Mark wild life stress test, it scored 53%, which is less than some of the flagships and slightly better than the S25. Temperature shot up from 33 to 44 degrees, which is also slightly less than the S25, thanks to the new VC cooling solution. That said, check out some synthetic benchmark scores below.
As you can see, the scores are better than the Exynos 2500, but they are less compared to other flagship phones.
Battery life
Coming to the battery life, the phone packs a 4300mAh (typical) built-in battery, compared to 4000mAh in the S25. It lasts for a whole day with 5G, dual SIMs, and heavy use. I got about 5 and a half hours of screen on time with close to two days of use with mostly on Wi-Fi and occasional 5G use in 120Hz, which is almost the same as the S25.
It still has 25W fast charging compared to 45W in the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. It takes just over an hour to charge the phone fully using a 25W charger, and 0 to 50% takes about 20 minutes. Most competitors have a bigger battery that can charge in less than half the time. It now has Qi2 wireless charging support at 20W compared to 15W in older models but doesn’t have built-in magnets, so you will have to use a case with magnets if you need to get the maximum speed.
Conclusion
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S26 is a highly capable and refined compact flagship, though it is unquestionably an iterative update. It retains the winning formula of its predecessor, offering a brilliant, brighter 120Hz LTPO display, dependable cameras, and an elegant, lightweight design that is a joy to use one-handed.
The jump to the industry-first 2nm Exynos 2600 processor provides a bump in efficiency and gaming performance, which, paired with the slightly larger 4300mAh battery, yields reliable all-day battery life. The addition of 20W Qi2 wireless charging and the continued promise of seven years of software updates further cement its value as a solid long-term investment.
However, the lack of significant hardware changes makes it a tough sell for recent upgraders. The camera sensors are completely identical to last year’s model, and Samsung is still sticking to 25W wired charging in a flagship device when competitors offer significantly faster top-up speeds.
Ultimately, if you are upgrading from a Galaxy S23 or an older device, the Galaxy S26 is a fantastic, pocket-friendly flagship that ticks almost all the right boxes. But if you already hold the Galaxy S24 or S25, there simply isn’t enough new hardware here to justify making the switch.
Alternatives
The Google Pixel 10 is a good alternative in the similar range, but it lacks a telephoto camera. The iPhone 17 should also be a good alternative.
Availability
The Samsung Galaxy S25 12GB + 256 GB model is priced at Rs. 87,999 and the 12GB + 512GB model is priced at Rs. 1,07,999. It is available from Samsung online store, Amazon.in, and other online and offline stores. Samsung is running an offer for the phone, so you can get it for Rs. 79,999 for a limited period.
Pros
- Excellent 120Hz LTPO AMOLED display
- Compact, light-weight body
- Smooth performance
- 7 years OS and security updates
- Dependable cameras
- Decent battery life
Cons
- Not much changes compared to Galaxy S25
- Still limited to 25W charging