---
title: 'New Galaxy S26: Samsung''s Compact Flagship Review'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=FRfq0bv7dB8'
video_id: 'FRfq0bv7dB8'
date: 2026-08-06
duration_sec: 559
---

# New Galaxy S26: Samsung's Compact Flagship Review

> Source: [New Galaxy S26: Samsung's Compact Flagship Review](https://youtube.com/watch?v=FRfq0bv7dB8)

## Summary

The video reviews the base model Samsung Galaxy S26, highlighting its design, display, cameras, internals, battery, and new AI features. The reviewer notes that while the phone is $100 more expensive and slightly larger than its predecessor, it offers significant upgrades in storage, processor, and battery, making it a strong value in Samsung's lineup.

### Key Points

- **Introduction to the Galaxy S26 base model** [00:02] — The video focuses on the regular base model S26, which is the most affordable and smallest in the lineup, yet packs many premium features.
- **Unified design across S series** [00:29] — Samsung unified the design across the S series, making the base model look premium and similar to the Ultra, with a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display (up from 6.2 inches).
- **Display brightness and refresh rate** [01:10] — The display reaches 2,600 nits for outdoor visibility and has a fast, smooth refresh rate, but lacks the Ultra's privacy feature.
- **Colors and online exclusives** [01:49] — The phone comes in six colors: cobalt, violet, white, black, sky blue, plus two online exclusives (pink gold and silver shadow) available only from Samsung's website.
- **Camera system largely unchanged** [02:29] — The cameras are similar to last year: primary rear lens, 3x optical telephoto (10MP), and 12MP ultrawide. The new processor may slightly affect photo quality.
- **Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy** [03:09] — The phone uses the same chip as the Ultra, with 39% faster NPU, 24% faster GPU, and faster CPU, improving AI tasks and gaming.
- **Base model now includes Ultra Wideband** [03:51] — The base model now has Ultra Wideband for precision finding of Galaxy Tags, a feature previously missing from base models.
- **No mmWave 5G** [04:31] — The base model lacks millimeter wave 5G, but most users won't notice the difference; it's a trade-off for cost.
- **Battery increased to 4,300 mAh** [04:43] — Battery is almost 10% bigger than last year's 4,000 mAh, promising solid battery life, though not a silicon carbon battery.
- **Reverse wireless charging supports Galaxy Watch 7/8** [05:10] — Press release indicates reverse wireless charging now works with Galaxy Watch 7 and 8 series, potentially eliminating the need for extra chargers when traveling.
- **Storage doubled to 256GB base** [06:06] — Base storage is now 256GB (up from 128GB), with 12GB RAM, and a 512GB option available.
- **Price increase to $899** [06:22] — The price is $100 more than last year, but justified by double storage and other improvements; it's now priced like last year's mid-tier storage option.
- **New AI features** [07:01] — AI features include an enhanced Gallery app for generative editing (similar to Google's Nano Banana), enhanced Circle to Search, and support for Gemini or Perplexity as default assistants.
- **Call screening and scam warnings** [07:54] — The phone can screen calls and listen for scam patterns, which is especially beneficial for elderly users.
- **Overall verdict** [08:32] — Despite the price increase and larger size, the S26 base model offers great value and might be the best phone in Samsung's lineup.

### Conclusion

The Galaxy S26 base model delivers substantial upgrades in storage, performance, and battery, making it a compelling choice despite the $100 price hike. It's likely the best value in Samsung's 2025 lineup.

## Transcript

S26. Regular, not the Plus, not the Ultra, just the regular base model S26. And I think it's the one that a lot of people It's not going to get a lot of coverage, but it's the most affordable. It's the
smallest, and it still packs a lot of the most premium features on a Samsung flagship phone. So, I'm a big fan of the best tech in the smallest form factor. what's new about it, what's different about it, and what's unchanged with it.
So, let's start off with the design. You can see the design is now pretty unified Samsung kind of unified everything that was not the Ultra and then just had the Ultra have its own more premium aesthetic, but now the entire S series
similar and you could use any one of them and people are going to know you have a very premium phone. The build quality feels nice. It looks really good. And on the front you can see a 6.3 in Super AMOLED display. And this
display 6.3 in is slightly larger than last year's 6.2 in. I'm a little bit bummed about that. I really like smaller phones personally, but clearly a lot of people wanted 6.3 in. It sounds weird when I say it out loud.
Whatever. We're going to leave it in there. The display gets up to 2,600 nits, so it should be plenty bright when using outside. And the refresh rate goes it's [clears throat] fast and smooth and responsive. But unlike the Ultra, this
one does not have that new privacy feature that I talk about in my Ultra the same time as this one. In fact, I'm publishing, I think, five videos at the same time. So, after you watch this one,
talk about the new earbuds, the Ultra, the Plus, um, and I'll compare the earbuds as well. But anyway, talking about this phone right now, the display overall super solid. I'm very happy with that. You have the increen fingerprint
sensor as always. So, it is really convenient and fast and just a good flagship phone. And this phone comes in six different colors. Fortunately, the six colors are actually the same on the Plus, the Ultra, and the base model
here. And the six colors are cobalt, violet, white, black, sky blue. And there are actually two online exclusives you can only get from Samsung's website, which I have linked down below, and that is pink gold and silver shadow. So, by
starting today. I'll have links in the description down below. There's an through those links, and I'll have that explained in the description down below. Usually, it's like an enhanced trading credit, student and military discount,
and sometimes some extra cash you could use towards accessories, or maybe the the cameras. This one's going to be fairly brief. The cameras are largely primary rear lens, which is pretty
I've actually been quite happy with this lens. We may see a slight difference in how the photos look thanks to the new processor on the inside of this phone, but otherwise the telephoto lens is still a 3x optical or 3x optical quality
essentially, and that is a 10 megapixel sensor. And then the ultrawide is 12 also 12 megapixels. So, that's essentially the same camera system as last year. I was hoping to get a telephoto lens, but I mean, this one
the base model, I can give Samsung a pass here. Now, let's talk about the internals of this phone. I mentioned we have a faster processor in here. This is the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy. Kind of a long name, but just know it's
an Android phone. It is the same chip you're getting in the Ultra phone, which is significantly more expensive than this one. And you're getting some improvements. So, you've faster CPU, so faster processing. You have a 39% faster
NPU, which is going to be for more AI type tasks, which are apparently getting quite important on phones, and also 24% faster GPU, which is going to be more gaming on this phone. And, you know, across the board, this is really
interesting. The S26 base model here really seems a lot like the S25 Plus, but with newer specs. And what I mean by that is in the past, there were things base model, and they gave to the Plus model. And almost all of those are now
existing on the base model here. So one that mo most people might not even notice that snuck in there is actually the inclusion of ultra wideband. So if you want to use that precision finding feature for locating galaxy tags for
example, um you can now do that on the base model. That's a feature that just did not exist in the base model before. Something that wasn't given to the base model though is the full 5G experience. So you still have the sub6 5G, but you
don't have millimeter wave 5G. I think a lot of users would probably never notice a difference and definitely would not care about that difference, but for extreme power users, that could potentially be I never mind. Extreme
the Ultra anyway. So, I think that one kind of makes sense as well. The battery inside is also almost 10% bigger now at 4,300 mAh compared to last year, which I believe was only 4,000 milliamp hours. Considering the size of the display, I
battery life on this phone. Although it is still not a silicon carbon battery as a lot of other phones have kind of adopted that. Still, it should be getting you a pretty solid battery life. The charging is 25 watts for wired
charging. And get this, this is really subtle and I'm excited to get the phone in the studio and really test this out to see if this is actually true. But in the press release, it said that reverse wireless charging on this works for, you
know, listed a whole bunch of devices. And in there it included the Galaxy Watch 8 series and the Galaxy Watch 7 series. And those are watches that were come out at the time last year, but the 7 wasn't included last year because it
wasn't able to be charged with the reverse wireless charging on phones. So, about the reverse wireless charging, but I'm excited to try that because it is on their press release. And hopefully that now gives us the ability to travel with
your watch and your phone and not have to bring an extra charger. That's one of my favorite features about the Samsung ecosystem and I'm really hoping that we're bringing that back this year. Oh, also the storage on here is now doubled.
The base storage is no longer 128. You start at 256 GB and it comes with 12 GB storage when you're buying it. Sometimes, again, that link down there Sometimes they do that. Um, but that will give you 512 gigs, which is the
larger option there. So, the price on this, I'm a little bit I mean, it's 899 bucks. Uh, kind of hate to say it, that's $100 more expensive than last battery. You're getting double the storage, and you're getting a number of
other improvements across the board. I think the storage alone, if you look at that one, does make sense. This is now priced basically at what you'd be paying for the mid-tier storage last year. Although, not everyone needs that much
just get the cheapest phone they can in that S tier. Of course, this still has IP68 water resistance and we have some new features on this phone as well. So, obviously, Samsung's leaning a lot into AI. Some of it might be gimmicks, some
of it might be very useful. Honestly, I kind of have a mix of my own uses of AI. have used it a couple years ago, but the features that they added, one of them is Indie Gallery app. So you had magic eraser, very useful, honestly. But now
editing aspect to this where you can add things in there. So if you want to change the background, add a shirt, add something from a different image, maybe a hat from a different image into an image of you, it's really able to do all
that all of that is baked into your gallery app. Basically, it's not a whole lot different than Google's Nano Banana if you just went to the Gemini app, but gallery app that you already have. We also have enhanced circle to search and
alongside Bixby of course you can use Gemini or you can use Perplexity now as well as your default voice assistant. Another feature is called screening which is very similar in one aspect to Google's call screening but this has two
that's similar to Google is that it can answer the phone for you. You know you and you can decide if you want to pick it up. Maybe if you're in a meeting and your girlfriend calls or your wife calls you could do that screen the call just
if they're like, "Yes, this is really important." You could pick it up. Or if You could, you know, type back on on on your phone like that. But the other side is probably more beneficial for elderly individuals where it can listen along
throughout your call and give you warnings if it seems like these are tracking patterns of a scam call, for example. Not everyone needs that, but there are some people that this could really be a huge lifesaver for them. So,
that is the Galaxy S26 base model. Overall, a ton of improvements across the board. more storage, bigger display, better processor, better battery, and although it is a $100 more expensive and slightly larger, two things I was
see, I still think this is a really good value for a lot of people. And of the Samsung lineup, this could very well be the best phone to buy. Of course, I will subscribed if you haven't already. And now, I mentioned there are four other
videos I make. I'm launching at the exact same time as this one. I'll link put it in a playlist so you can check out the other ones. The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are a huge step up. I absolutely love using them. And of course, maybe
the S26 Plus is the phone for you. Thanks for watching, guys, and I'll see Thanks for watching, guys, and I'll see you in those