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The new S26 phones all support new AI tools and faster performance, but they still differ in terms of hardware.
The new S26 phones all support new AI tools and faster performance, but they still differ in terms of hardware.
Sheena VasaniCloseSheena VasaniCommerce WriterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
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Samsung has just announced its new Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra. While they aren’t radical departures from last year’s models, they bring a handful of notable upgrades. All three run on Qualcomm’s Galaxy-centric Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which delivers improved performance and powers a slew of new AI-based features. This includes the ability to screen unknown calls and edit photos by typing what you want changed, along with an update to Google Gemini that can carry out certain tasks in supported third-party apps, like Uber and DoorDash, on your behalf.
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Starting at $899.99, the S26 is the smallest and most affordable of the trio. It features a 6.3-inch OLED display, weighs just under 6 ounces, and has a 4,300mAh battery. Its rear cameras include a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and a 10-megapixel telephoto lens. Like its siblings, it supports a 120Hz refresh rate, starts with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and includes wireless charging.
The $1,099.99 S26 Plus, meanwhile, retains the same features but adds a larger 6.7-inch display and a bigger 4,900mAh battery, which in theory means it could last longer on a single charge than the S26. Still, we’d need to test both phones to see how they compare in reality, especially given the larger display on the Plus model.
Then there’s the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which starts at $1,299.99. It’s the largest and most feature-rich phone in the lineup — and the heaviest, weighing close to half a pound. Its 6.9-inch display feels closer to an e-reader’s, and the 5,000mAh battery is the largest of the three phones. Its camera system is the most advanced, as well, offering a 200-megapixel main sensor, a 50-megapixel ultrawide, and two dedicated telephoto lenses with 3x and 5x optical zoom so you can zoom in farther without losing image quality. The Ultra is also the only phone to offer Samsung’s new Privacy Display feature, which makes it harder for people sitting next to you to see what’s on your screen, if you don’t want them to. It’s also the only model with S Pen support for taking notes.
That’s just a glimpse of the main differences between the three models, though. If you want a more detailed look at the hardware defining each phone, the table below breaks down the specs. We’ve also published our hands-on impressions of the Galaxy S26, S26 Plus, and S26 Ultra for those who want more insight ahead of our full reviews.
Samsung Galaxy S26 vs. S26 Plus vs. S26 Ultra
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