Special deal alert: the compact phone that punches up. Galaxy S26 shines just as much as the Ultra

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By Preslav Kateliev

Published: Mar 11, 2026, 11:00 AM

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Promo image of Galaxy S26 in all its official colors

Available in all the fun colors | Image by Samsung

This story is sponsored by Samsung. PhoneArena's opinions in this article have not been affected in any way!

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The Galaxy S26 trio are arriving this week, and all three of them are the heavy-hitters to beat in 2026. Well, what if you don’t want a heavy phone?

Thankfully, that’s just a metaphor. The 6.3-inch Samsung Galaxy S26 may have a 6.3-inch screen, but thanks to its slim bezels and thin build, it can be considered a compact phone by today’s standards.

And, as such, it may be the most valuable option out of the three for you. A pocket-friendly, no-nonsense power house.

But what features does the Galaxy S26 have? Does it cut any out? Well, no, not really:

Samsung Galaxy S26 features that are present on all phones

Agentic Galaxy AI: Samsung’s big push for 2026. We get an improved Bixby Assistant, now powered by Perplexity — the non-Google AI that has been making waves all through last year as a valid alternative. But you don’t have to choose either one or the other — all Galaxy phones still run on Android with native Gemini on board. The nex Bixby is just extra-oomph with system access to more easily prompt and request things that have to do with your apps and settings (“Save these search results into a new Note”).

ProScaler & mDNIe: new visual engines that sharpen the picture and improve image vibrancy. Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED 2x displays were already excellent. These new behind-the-scenes improvements are here to give them an extra push ahead for the 2026 competition.

Horizon Lock: an incredible video stabilization feature that will keep your recording steady no matter what. Even if you literally rotate the phone 360 degrees!

AI Photo Assist: request a specific edit through voice and watch the Photos app fix the image up for you.

More base RAM and base storage: all Galaxy S26 units now start at 12 GB RAM LPDDR5X and 256 GB UFS 4.0 storage, ensuring fast read and write speeds that should not bottleneck the cool new processor.

The new processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 has crushed benchmarks and shown robust score in both multi- and single-threaded performance.

New cooling to back it up: all Galaxy S26 units come with improved vapor cooling chambers to ensure sustained performance from that new chip.

$579 ⁹⁹

$1299 ⁹⁹

$720 off (55%)

With enhanced trade-in or get $150 instant Samsung Store credit with no trade-in. The Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with the new Privacy Display, APV video codec and 8K 30 FPS recording, Now Nudge, upgraded zoom camera optics.

Buy at Samsung

$619 ⁹⁹

$1099 ⁹⁹

$480 off (44%)

With enhanced trade-in. When no trade-in, $150 in instant Samsung Store credit. The Galaxy S26 Plus comes with a new slimmer body, 6.7-inch screen, pro image scaler, and advanced photo editing.

Buy at Samsung

$519 ⁹⁹

$899 ⁹⁹

$380 off (42%)

With enhanced trade-in. The Galaxy S26 comes with a slimmer bezels around a slightly larger display, faster minimum storage with 256 GB capacity, bigger battery than before.

Buy at Samsung

Features that are unique to the Galaxy S26 Ultra

All Galaxy S26 series are made to have the aforementioned powerful features. The Ultra just has that little bit extra, that cutting-edge Samsung tech and prowess. Here’s what’s unique about it:

Privacy Display: the headline-making new tech that literally works like magic, narrowing the screen’s viewing angles and keeping it your-eyes-only.

Super Fast Charging 3.0: now capable of charging with 60 W for a faster top-up (75% in 30 minutes)

Wider apertures: the main camera and 5x zoom camera now collect more light and start off with better natural bokeh

APV Video Codec: a professional-grade lossless codec that makes it possible to put Galaxy S26 Ultra footage through heavy edits and come up with high-quality cinematic results.

Galaxy S26 series specs

And, to put a neat little bow on it, here are the specs of all Galaxy S26 phones for an easy comparison:

	Galaxy S26 Ultra	Galaxy S26+	Galaxy S6
Size and weight	6.44 x 3.07 x 0.31 in 7.55 oz	6.24 x 2.98 x 0.29 in 6.70 oz	5.89 x 2.82 x 0.28 in 5.89 oz
Display tech	6.9” Dynamic AMOLED 2x 2,600 nits peak Gorilla Armor 2 with Anti-glare Privacy Display	6.7” Dynamic AMOLED 2x 2,600 nits peak Gorilla Glass Victus 2 -	6.3” Dynamic AMOLED 2x 2,600 nits peak Gorilla Glass Victus 2 -
Camera tech	Main: 200 MP, F1.4 Ultra-wide: 50 MP, F1.9 Zoom: 10 MP, 3x, F2.4 Zoom: 50 MP, 5x, F2.9	Main: 50 MP, F1.8 Ultra-wide: 12 MP, F2.2 Zoom: 10 MP, 3x, F2.4 -	Main: 50 MP, F1.8 Ultra-wide: 12 MP, F2.2 Zoom: 10 MP, 3x, F2.4 -
Hardware	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 3 nm 4.6 GHz 256GB / 512GB / 1TB 12GB / 12GB / 16GB RAM	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 3 nm 4.6 GHz 256GB / 512GB 12GB / 12GB RAM	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 3 nm 4.6 GHz 256GB / 512GB 12GB / 12GB RAM
Battery	5,000 mAh Wired charging: 60 W Wireless charging: 25 W	4,900 mAh Wired charging: 45 W Wireless charging: 20 W	4,300 mAh Wired charging: 25 W Wireless charging: 15 W

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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.

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