The Galaxy S26 FE is the wrong Samsung phone to buy right now

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Not content with launching three foldables and a pair of smartwatches this summer, Samsung is rounding off its latest launch window with the Galaxy S26 FE .

It’s hard to object to the idea behind the FE — the core of a premium Samsung phone experience with some bits trimmed off to make it easier on your bank account. And I am fairly sure that when the Galaxy S26 FE is reviewed, it will score well. But it’s still going to be a phone that’s hard to find a suitable buyer for, due to its unfortunate mix of features and pricing.

The big reason for the Galaxy S26 FE’s problem is that while the specs and features of the new FE are only slightly upgraded, as we’ll get into later, the price has increased too. You now pay $50/£50 more for the equivalent storage options of the outgoing Galaxy S25 FE . This is likely another case of RAMageddon making the consumer hardware market a bleak place to shop.

It leaves the FE in the same awkward spot it’s always been in: too big a leap in price to entice someone looking at a mid-range Galaxy A-series phone, and too small a step down in price to make it a smart cost-saving measure compared to a full-fat S26. There’s only a hundred bucks/ quid difference between the Galaxy S26 FE and the standard Galaxy S26 , which offers noticeably more in terms of camera specs and chipset power, even if it has a smaller display and battery .

All of that assumes you’re buying these phones at full retail price, and given how regularly Samsung or its partners discount even the latest Galaxy S26 models — or the outgoing S25 FE — that makes things even tougher for the Galaxy S26 FE.

Speaking of the Galaxy S25 FE, its existence makes things worse for the Galaxy S26 FE, as the hardware upgrades Samsung has made are very minor.

The S26 FE’s display is unchanged from the older model, as are its RAM and storage specs. Other elements, like the cameras or the battery and charging systems, are identical on paper between the Galaxy S25 FE and S26 FE, except Samsung has seemingly squeezed a little more out of the newer model. For instance, the S26 FE’s main camera’s in-sensor zoom between 1x and 2x is supposedly sharper, and its battery lasts an extra hour on Samsung’s internal video playback endurance tests while also charging slightly faster.