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When I first got my hands on the Galaxy S26, my expectations were tempered from Samsung’s latest compact flagship. And these were well-founded for many reasons as I editorially trashed it in my review. The camera hardware feels stale, the charging speed is underwhelming, and for a phone that not starts for around $899, “safe” isn’t exactly a compliment.
But still I was genuinely surprised that after spending more time with the Galaxy S26, it still hangs around in my pocket as my secondary phone. And in this time, I even grew quite found of it. Despite the various issues, the annoying part is that it is still very easy to like.
It reminded me how good a truly compact flagship can feel
The biggest reason is also the simplest one. The Galaxy S26 feels like a ‘mobile phone’ again, with an emphasis on the mobile bit. It isn’t a massive slab, nor a mini-tablet (phablet as some call it). Just a flagship that disappears into your pocket, sits comfortably in your hand, and does not make one-handed use feel like a circus act. My daily driver, the Xiaomi 15, is already a compact flagship, but this takes it a step further with an impressively light 167g body and slimmer footprint.
And that matters more than what I’d like to admit. I can complain all day about the charging caps and camera intertia, but the S26 quietly wins in the other everyday parts of phone life. It may not nail the essentials, and yet, it is still easy to pull out, easy to carry, and easy to live with. There is a kind of freedom that which bigger flagship phones keep forgetting.
You still get the Ultra feel where it actually counts
The other reason that the S26 keeps worming its way back into my good graces is with its software. One UI 8.5 is still one of the best Android skins out there, bringing polish, responsive, and feature packed experience along with the same general Galaxy AI functionality that defines the rest of the Galaxy S26 family.
Samsung is also promising seven years of OS and security updates, which means the base model does not feel like the “less important” member of the family in terms of software support.
This is also what makes the S26 so sneaky. You’re not getting the S26 Ultra‘s camera flex or charging muscle, but it still offers a lot of the same flagship atmosphere. You are not buying a stripped-down software experience, which is something you’ll interacting a lot more than the cameras. You are buying the same Samsung software in a form that does not feel ridiculous in your jeans.
Its flaws are real—but so is its charm
I won’t pretend that the problems vanished. The camera setup still feels old next to what rivals are doing, and even friendly reviews keep landing on the same point: it is refined, competent, and far too iterative for the money. The base S26 still uses the familiar camera setup, while the charging story and battery life remain a sore spot in 2026.
And that is what makes liking this phone even more irritable. It is not exciting enough to fully praise, and not bad enough to dismiss. The Galaxy S26 is the kind of phone that makes more sense in your hands than it does on a spec sheet. I still think Samsung played it too safe and that this model deserves a little more love and attention.
I just also thing it is one of the easier flagship phones to actually enjoy carrying around—and that makes it much harder to stay mad at.
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