Wired's review of the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE finds a phone that looks and performs much like its predecessor but now costs more, making it a harder sell against rivals. Priced at $700 (up from the S25 FE's $650), the phone offers a flagship-style design, a large OLED display and a versatile triple-camera system, but only modest improvements justify the price rise, and one component has actually been downgraded.

The main upgrade is Samsung's Exynos 2500 chip, which improves on the previous Exynos 2400 but remains well behind the Exynos 2600 used elsewhere in the S26 line. The 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED screen, 4,900mAh battery, 45-watt wired charging and base storage of 128GB with 8GB of RAM are all largely unchanged from last year, and the reviewer flags the storage and RAM as stingy. Notably, the USB-C port has been downgraded to USB 2.0 from USB 3.2, slowing file transfers and removing DisplayPort Alt Mode support, meaning it can no longer connect to smart glasses or external displays.