Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) vs S26 FE

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) that was released on February 25, 2026, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, which is powered by Exynos 2500 and came out 6 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon)
  • 66% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (3811K versus 2289K)
  • 34% higher pixel density (516 vs 385 PPI)
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
  • Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • 64% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 3634 and 2217 points
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
  • Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 16
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • The phone is 6 months newer
  • CPU with a higher amount of cores (+2)

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) and S26 FE crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
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Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 128 GB
39.2
(Mediocre)
Value Index
58.3
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Dynamic AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3120 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 516 ppi 385 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (1-120 Hz) Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1500 nits 1300 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2600 nits 1900 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz -
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Armor 2 Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 91.7% 88.6%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Peak brightness test (auto)

Design and build

Height 158.4 mm (6.24 inches) 161.6 mm (6.36 inches)
Width 75.8 mm (2.98 inches) 76.9 mm (3.03 inches)
Thickness 7.3 mm (0.29 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 190 g (6.7 oz) 193 g (6.81 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Silver, Blue, Pink, Purple Gray, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) and Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Samsung Exynos 2500
Max clock 4740 MHz 3300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 10 (1 + 2 + 5 + 2)
Architecture - 6 cores at 3.63 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Performance
- 2 cores at 4.74 GHz: Oryon Gen 3 Prime
- 2 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A520
- 5 cores at 2.36 GHz: Cortex-A725
- 2 cores at 2.74 GHz: Cortex-A725
- 1 core at 3.3 GHz: Cortex-X925
L3 cache 12 MB 16 MB
Manufacturing TSMC Samsung
Lithography process 3 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Yes
GPU
Graphics Adreno 840 Xclipse 950
GPU shading units 1536 1024
GPU clock 1300 MHz 999 MHz
FLOPS ~3993.6 GFLOPS ~4091.9 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) and Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) 27258 22100
Single-core score 3634 2217
Multi-core score 11036 7699
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
CPU 1126364 771016
GPU 1506051 723824
Memory 430002 356421
UX 748714 438435
Total score 3811131 2289696
Samples [2 tests] Less than 3
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (28th and 188th place)

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-25 (Ahmed)AnTuTu3643182
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-13 (Sparky)GeekBench GPU29139
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-03 (Krish)GeekBench GPU25262
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-03 (Krish)GeekBench CPU3634 / 11036
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-03 (Krish)AnTuTu3811131
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
No benchmark results yet

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 5300 MHz -
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 16 Android 17
ROM One UI 8.5 One UI 9
OS size 30.8 GB -
OS updates 7 years 7 years
Security updates 7 years 7 years

Battery

Capacity 4900 mAh 4900 mAh
Max charge power 45 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion -
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (25 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (69% in 30 min) Yes (69% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:01 hr 1:08 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 09:42 hr
Watching video - 17:42 hr
Gaming - 06:12 hr
Standby - 117 hr
General battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8160 x 6120 8160 x 6120
Zoom Optical, 3x Optical, 3x
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 120Β° 123Β°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 8 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 23 mm 24 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5KGNG Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3
Sensor size 1/1.56" (β‰ˆ 0.64 inch) 1/1.57" (β‰ˆ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 10 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Focal length 69 mm 75 mm
Sensor Samsung ISOCELL S5K3LD OmniVision OV08A10
Sensor size 1/3.94" (β‰ˆ 0.25 inch) 1/4.4" (β‰ˆ 0.23 inch)
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 12 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 13 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX564 Samsung S5K3L6
Sensor size 1/2.55" (β‰ˆ 0.39 inch) 1/3.0" (β‰ˆ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 12 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Focal length 23 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3LU CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.2" (β‰ˆ 0.31 inch) 1/3.2" (β‰ˆ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 6.0 5.4
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 -
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 1 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced February 2026 August 2026
Release date March 2026 September 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $1099 $699
SAR (head) 0.78 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.22 W/kg -
Sensors - Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Not included Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus (Snapdragon) is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
9 (69.2%)
4 (30.8%)
Total votes: 13

User opinions

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