Samsung’s Galaxy S26 FE is a midrange phone positioned between the flagship Galaxy S series and cheaper A-series models. It offers a large display, flagship-like design and a lower price than the base Galaxy S26, but its $700 price is $50 higher than last year’s model despite only modest improvements, raising questions about its value amid rising component costs.

The phone has a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED display, an Exynos 2500 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of base storage, though a 256GB version is available. Its 1,900-nit brightness is below the S26 series’ 2,600 nits, demanding games can cause frame-rate drops, and the camera app can occasionally feel sluggish. A 4,900mAh battery delivered just over 21 hours of video playback but generally required daily charging; charging supports 45W wired and 15W wireless power.