Samsung Galaxy S26+ Review: A Genuinely Good Phone With a Genuinely Awkward Job
The Galaxy S26+ has flagship silicon, a great display, and solid battery life — its real problem is the Galaxy S26 Ultra sitting one shelf over. Our full verdict on Samsung's middle child.
Samsung has had the same problem with its Plus-tier flagship for years, and the Galaxy S26+ doesn't solve it. PhoneArena's review put it bluntly, calling the S26+ "a perfectly good phone with no reason to exist" — not because anything is actually wrong with it, but because the Galaxy S26 Ultra sitting one shelf over makes a far stronger case for the extra money, while the base Galaxy S26 undercuts it on price. That framing is worth taking seriously, but it shouldn't obscure that the S26+ is, on its own terms, a genuinely capable flagship.
Design and Build
The design is a subtle refinement rather than a rework — a new unified glass camera housing replaces the separated lens rings of the S25+, and Samsung added a couple of new color options this generation. Android Central's review noted that Samsung introduced the well-received Galaxy S25 Edge last year and seemed to have the ingredients for a genuinely distinctive Plus model in 2026, but the S26+ doesn't build on that — it's the same familiar Armor aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass Victus construction as its predecessor, just with a slightly different camera bump.
Display
A 6.7-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel at 120Hz with 2,600 nits peak brightness — genuinely excellent, and the single clearest reason to pick the S26+ over the compact 6.3-inch base Galaxy S26 if screen size and immersion matter more to you than one-handed use. It's effectively unchanged from the S25+'s display, which is only a criticism in the sense that it means this generation offers nothing new here.
Camera
The 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3x telephoto array is capable and consistent in good and moderate light, with Samsung's AI-assisted processing tools like Audio Eraser layered on top this generation. But it's the same core camera hardware Back Market's review found essentially unchanged from the S25+, and it's a clear step down from the Ultra's 200MP main sensor if photography specifically is the priority. This is the sharpest illustration of the S26+'s positioning problem: it's a genuinely good camera system that simply isn't the reason anyone chooses this phone over its siblings.
Performance
Here the S26+ has a real, unambiguous strength — it runs the same Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 silicon as the Galaxy S26 Ultra, so day-to-day speed, gaming performance, and AI-feature responsiveness are essentially identical between the two phones despite the price gap. One UI 8 on Android 16 remains polished and Samsung's committed 7-year OS and security update window is class-leading, matching Google's and Honor's best current policies.
Battery and Charging
A 5,000mAh cell with 45W wired SuperFast Charging and 15W Qi2 wireless charging delivers comfortably all-day battery life for typical use, and it's a real, if modest, step up from the base Galaxy S26. It's 500mAh smaller than the Ultra's 5,500mAh cell, though in day-to-day use reviewers didn't report the gap translating into a dramatically different real-world runway between the two.
Verdict
GSMTechTok Verdict
Taken entirely on its own, the Galaxy S26+ is an excellent phone — flagship-tier performance, a great display, and dependable battery life with no significant flaws. The honest catch, echoed across nearly every independent review, is that it exists in the shadow of its own sibling: the Galaxy S26 Ultra offers a meaningfully better camera and the S Pen for a price gap that many buyers will conclude is worth paying, while the base Galaxy S26 delivers most of the same core experience in a smaller, cheaper package. The S26+ earns its recommendation specifically for buyers who want a bigger screen than the base model without stepping all the way up to Ultra pricing — not as a default pick in Samsung's 2026 flagship lineup.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's actually different between the Galaxy S26+ and the Galaxy S26 Ultra?
The Ultra gets a 200MP main camera versus the S26+'s 50MP, a built-in S Pen slot, a larger 6.9-inch display versus 6.7 inches, and a bigger 5,500mAh battery versus 5,000mAh — all for roughly £300 more. Both share the same Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset, so raw CPU/GPU performance is nearly identical; the gap is almost entirely in the camera system and the stylus.
Is the Galaxy S26+ a big upgrade over the Galaxy S25+?
Not really, and reviewers were consistent on this point — Back Market's review found the display, core camera hardware, and battery capacity are essentially unchanged from the S25+, with the main differences being a new unified camera housing design, six color options, and incremental AI software features like Audio Eraser. If you already own an S25+, there's little urgency to upgrade specifically to the S26+.
Who should actually buy the Galaxy S26+ instead of the base S26 or the Ultra?
Someone who wants the S26 Ultra's bigger, sharper 6.7-to-6.9-inch display and slightly larger battery than the compact base Galaxy S26, but doesn't care about the S Pen or the highest-resolution camera and doesn't want to pay the Ultra's premium. It's a genuine size-and-battery upgrade over the base S26 for a smaller price jump than going all the way to the Ultra — just don't expect it to feel meaningfully different from last year's Plus model.
Price history · 90 days · GBP
Galaxy S26+
Current
£999
90d Low
£945
9 Jun
90d High
£1,019
12 Aug
Launch price
£999
All-time low ↓
Price tracking from major UK retailers. Updated daily. Prices may vary.
How it compares: Galaxy S26+ vs Galaxy S26 Ultra
Samsung
Galaxy S26+
From £999
Samsung
Galaxy S26 Ultra
From £1,299
6.7" QHD+ 120Hz
Display
6.9" QHD+ 120Hz
50MP triple, 3x optical
Main cam
200MP + S Pen
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2
Chip
Snapdragon 8 Elite 2
5,000mAh · 45W
Battery
5,500mAh · 65W
From £999
Price
From £1,299
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