Galaxy S26: the four "could've, should've" features on this flagship

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5… or Exynos 2600? It's rumored that these will be the chipsets in the Galaxy S26. As usual, the USA might get the Snapdragon treatment, while European customers might be left with the Exynos chipset.

In recent years, Exynos silicon was considered to be inferior compared to Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips: Samsung's in-house Exynos was prone to heating issues and its performance levels were lagging behind the competition.

Yes, but the new Exynos 2600 is quite the promising little fella, as rumors indicate. It's the first smartphone chipset built on a 2nm process node, which, simply put, means it's really advanced. The Exynos 2600 performed surprisingly well in some early benchmark tests and it's claimed that its heat management issues are now resolved.

Debuting the Exynos 2600 on the Galaxy S26 could be a risky move, though. As cool as things sound on paper, I think most people would like to see it in action before they draw their credit cards out.

Personally, I think the Exynos 2600 should've made its premiere on another device in late 2025, but, hey, I'm not running Samsung. I'm just wishing Samsung's marketing team good luck trying to convince everybody out there that the Exynos 2600 is the bee's knees in time for the pre-orders.

The display better stop growing

The Galaxy S26 is expected to bring along a 6.3-inch display, in other words, a marginally larger panel than the 6.2-inch one on the Galaxy S25.

A difference of 0.1 inches in diagonal is not substantial, but the Galaxy S23 was the last to feature the 6.1-inch panel. The tendency is clear: phones are growing.

That could be an issue soon, since there isn't a shortage of fans of compact phones. Personally, I have large hands and I find the 6.8-inch panel to be just fine. But people with smaller hands just don't feel comfortable using such large slates and stick to ~6-inch panels. That's why the disappearance of the compact flagship would be a dark moment in the smartphone realm.

Fans of compact phones, however, will be delighted with the 6.3-inch panel on the Galaxy S26.

A 10 MP telephoto?! Hey, it's 2026!

A flagship is as advanced as its camera setup. No, really. I realize that's a cheeky claim to be made, but there's a great deal of truth in it. Mid-range phones are so powerful these days. Were it not for the flagship cameras on the flagships, why would you even consider buying a maxed-out flagship? Yes, there are power users out there that need the best of the best in terms of hardware, but the vast majority of people can get everyday things done quite handsomely on a mid-ranger.

That's why I'm still baffled that Samsung is rumored to equip its Galaxy S26 (a proper flagship) with a… 10 MP sensor for the telephoto.

I'll be the first in line to argue with people who swear by 200 MP sensors – no, the megapixel count is not everything in a camera – but putting a 10 MP sensor in a 2026 flagship phone should be outlawed. Zoom cameras have gotten extremely good in recent times. It's time for Samsung to join the telephoto festivities.

The battery grows… but stays painfully slow

Another showstopper is the battery's rumored 25W charging speeds. I've grown accustomed to charging speeds over 80W, and it's not a mere personal preference. There are times when you absolutely need to top up your phone as fast as possible. Good luck doing that with 25W.

"Just leave your phone charging overnight", you might say. OK, I hear you. But I don't want to leave it plugged in. Simple as that.

On the positive side, the rumored 4,300 mAh capacity battery of the S26 is a clear upgrade over the 4,000 mAh over the S25. But in reality, we should've gotten a 5,000 mAh battery on this one. That's not an exotic, impossible figure – some phones come with 10,000 mAH already, and they're not too bulky.

It's a nice phone

The Galaxy S26 looks like another nice smartphone by Samsung. It'll be a snappy, reliable, sleek gadget. Yet nothing revolutionary. If you're a Samsung fan, it makes sense to get it. But if price hikes are introduced this time around, it makes even more sense to look in another direction. There are so many Android phones out there!