Samsung Galaxy S26 FE hands-on review: I'm not sure if this phone needed to exist

If you're looking for a premium Galaxy smartphone experience, but can't quite justify the cost of a standard Galaxy S26, then Samsung is hoping that the Galaxy S26 FE might be for you. This is the latest in the long line of "Fan Edition" phones and the idea is that Samsung cuts a few features, but in the process offers a near-flagship experience for a lower price.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE certainly does that, though it may take things a little bit too far. I spent a little bit of time with the S26 FE ahead of today's announcement, and started to wonder who this phone is really for. After all, the Samsung Galaxy A57 already captures the lower-priced mid-range segment and recent discounts to the standard Galaxy S26 make it more accessible than before.

The Galaxy S26 FE seems to occupy the same awkward middle ground as its predecessors. The specs aren't good enough to qualify it as a true flagship, but at the same time, it isn't cheap enough to be a true budget option.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE hands-on review: Specifications

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE hands-on review: The Ups

The cost of entry isn't too high

In a world of price hikes and RAMageddon, it's no surprise that the Galaxy S26 FE is more expensive than the S25 FE. That said, a $50 price hike isn't actually a lot, and that helps keep the cost of buying into the Galaxy S26 lineup much lower than it was before. The fact that Samsung has kept the 128GB model around means the $699 starting price is $200 less than the standard Galaxy S26 was at launch.

Admittedly that benefit only really matters if you plan on buying the 128GB model, and can't justify spending an extra $100 more. Why? Because, at the time of writing, Samsung's online store is selling the 256GB Galaxy S26 for $799 — the exact same price as the 256GB S26 FE.

In other words spending an extra $100 can get you a phone with better hardware. However, if you want to keep costs low and want access to the flagship capabilities of a Galaxy S26, then the FE is an option for you.

More premium than most cheap phones

The main benefit for the S26 FE, compared to the likes of the A57, is that you do get a slightly more premium build and feature set. All without having to pay quite as much as you would if you picked up a Galaxy S26 or one of its larger siblings.

The glossy glass back isn't quite as impressive as the matte glass on the back of the Galaxy S26. Honestly, seeing my own silhouette reflected in the back of the phone instantly made me think of the Galaxy A57, which is a shame when you remember that past FE devices had the matte glass to offer that instantly-premium look.

Still, the Galaxy S26 FE doesn't really feel cheap. It's reminiscent of the Galaxy S26 Plus due to its size, and there's definitely some weight to it that makes it feel more important than an A-series Galaxy. The brushed metal frame certainly helps in this respect, as does the solid-coloring of the camera bar — a design trait borrowed from other S26 phones.

Great selection of AI and software features

Like any device hoping to be considered close to flagship, the Galaxy S26 FE does come with a huge range of AI features. There's nothing new here, which isn't a huge surprise, but it does come with the best things Galaxy AI has had to offer on other phones — including my favorite Galaxy Z Fold 8 feature, My Fan Cam.

In fact, there are a bunch of cool software features that we've seen on other Galaxy flagships, but still haven't had the option to use on cheaper devices. That includes the Horizontal Lock video camera mode, the Samsung Document Scanner, Audio Eraser, AI-powered photo editing with Photo Assist, Now Brief, Circle to Search with multi-object recognition, as well as Now Nudge with support for cross-app functionality and third party apps.

Samsung also promises that the upgraded ProVisual engine is also here. This offers improved low light performance, reducing noise in the photo and lowering the overall color distortion. Though we haven't been able to test this for ourselves just yet.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE hands-on review: The Downs

Camera quality seems iffy so far

I will caveat this point by making it clear I haven't done any extensive camera testing with the Galaxy S26 FE, but the few sample photos I have taken so far were not very impressive. In fact, the four cameras on the S26 FE seem to struggle when compared to those on the Galaxy A57.

From a hardware perspective, things are a little disappointing. There's a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide, 8MP telephoto with 3x optical zoom and a 12MP selfie camera. That's pretty similar to the A57, albeit with a telephoto lens instead of a crappy 5MP macro lens.

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That minor change in third-camera hardware means that there's a big difference in the zoomed in photo I took. Since the A57 relies on its main lens, it's using a higher resolution lens and cropping it down — rather than actually zooming in. The camera defaults to 12MP, and while not great it is obviously higher than what an 8MP lens can accomplish.

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The main lens on the S26 FE is a little better, with some extra clarity that lets you make out the sugar crystals a little more easily, though it does come out much darker and less vibrant. The same is true when looking at this photo of a plant, with both 50MP lenses offering similar quality — but wildly different brightness levels.

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The selfie camera is a step in the opposite direction, though. While the A57 washed out the color from my face compared to the S26 FE, there's a lot more detail and clarity compared on the cheaper phone. The S26 FE is slightly blurrier, and struggles to pick up the finer details including hair and skin complexion.

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As you'd expect the regular Galaxy S26 outmatches them all, with more true-to-life colors and general clarity exceeding both the A57 and S26 FE. Even if my attempt at a selfie did not come out particularly well during my hands-on time. Still, the fact that the Galaxy A57 manages to offer some serious competition to the S26 FE, despite it being $150 cheaper, is not a good look for the Fan Edition phone.

Upgrades are minimal

Incremental upgrades with few major hardware upgrades are not uncommon, and the Galaxy S26 FE seems to be the latest example of that to come from Samsung HQ. Checking over the specs compared to last year's Galaxy S25 FE really highlights how few upgrades there are this year. If you didn't know any better, you could easily mistake the S26 FE for an older model, and only real changes are the newer Exynos chipset and the glass enclosure around the rear camera lenses.

Everything else, from the cameras to the battery are essentially identical, which means Samsung is relying more on software upgrades to help sell the phone over its predecessors. Which is not a terrible plan, considering the number of flagship features Samsung has added to the Galaxy S26 FE. But it doesn't suggest that the phone is a must-have. Especially when you remember the Galaxy A57 exists.

The Galaxy A57 is right there

The minimal upgrades wouldn't be so bad on their own, but we can't forget the fact that the Galaxy A57 is still around — and costs a good $150 less than the cheapest Galaxy S26 FE. There are a bunch of ways the Galaxy A57 falters compared to the S26 FE, particularly when it comes to performance and the availability of AI features. That price cut has to come from somewhere, and Samsung can't save all that money by cutting premium materials.

Still, at the same time, the A57 shares a lot of the same hardware with the Galaxy S26 FE. The camera hardware is more or less identical, and puts up a good fight against the S26 FE's cameras, and both screens share the same size, resolution and brightness. The A57's battery is actually larger, weirdly enough, and they both support up to 45W wired charging speeds — though the A57 lacks wireless charging.

We can't do a full comparison just yet, and we'll need to get the S26 FE into the lab to figure out exactly what its deal is. Because there's only so much you can glean from a list of hardware specs. Still, things don't look great. Especially considering the $50 price hike, and the fact that the 256GB Galaxy S26 costs the same as the equivalent FE.

Samsung Galaxy S26 FE hands-on review: Outlook

The Galaxy S26 FE certainly shows promise, I'm struggling to understand why Samsung is releasing it in the first place. The Fan Edition series has been losing relevance for a while, especially now that Samsung is consistently releasing A-series phones in the U.S. and the Galaxy S26 FE doesn't really do much to help salvage the line-up's reputation in any way.

Based on my limited time with the phone, it seems that it is too similar to the Galaxy A57 to justify the higher price tag. At the same time, the price is too close to that of the Galaxy S26 to make many of these compromises worthwhile. It's that weird middle ground where it's not a cheap phone, but it's too cut back to be a true flagship.

So who is this phone for? It does offer more AI and Samsung-exclusive software features than cheaper options, and the fact that the 128GB storage option is still around means the cost of entry is noticeably lower. If you're an AI superfan that doesn't have a lot of money, this might be the Samsung phone for you, but otherwise you may as well pick up a different model.

Of course we'll have a much better idea of what the Galaxy S26 FE can do when we get the phone into the Tom's Guide lab for testing. That could change everything, or it could cement the idea that the S26 FE needs to die. We'll just have to wait and see.