Samsung Galaxy S8 vs S26 FE

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 5.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S8 (with Exynos 9 Octa 8895) that was released on March 29, 2017, against the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, which is powered by Exynos 2500 and came out 9 years and 7 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 4 / 64 GB

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S8
  • 48% higher pixel density (568 vs 385 PPI)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 256GB
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 8.8 mm narrower
  • Weighs 38 grams less
  • Includes a 3.5 mm headphone audio jack port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
  • 5.3x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (2289K versus 430K)
  • Delivers 198% higher peak brightness (1839 against 617 nits)
  • The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Comes with 1900 mAh larger battery capacity: 4900 vs 3000 mAh
  • Has a 0.9 inch larger screen size
  • Shows 51% longer battery life (25:38 vs 16:58 hours)
  • Has 2x more RAM: 8GB versus 4GB
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.4)
  • Supports higher wattage charging (45W versus 15W)
  • The phone is 9 years and 7 months newer
  • More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 9
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Exynos 2500

Review

Evaluation of Samsung Galaxy S8 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
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 98% Yes
Yes, this is a clear and meaningful upgrade.
Updating from Samsung Galaxy S8 to Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is a clear step forward, and the improvements should be easy to notice.
Main improvements: gaming, performance, and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type Super AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 5.8 inches 6.7 inches
Resolution 1440 x 2960 pixels 1080 x 2340 pixels
Aspect ratio 18.5:9 19.5:9
PPI 568 ppi 385 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (1-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 540 nits 1300 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1900 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10 Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Gorilla Glass Victus Plus
Screen-to-body ratio 84.2% 88.6%
Display features - Always-On Display - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 99.8% -
PWM 250 Hz -
Response time 4.4 ms -
Contrast ∞ Infinity -
Screen space comparison
Galaxy S26 FE
6.7″ (19.5:9 ratio) = 17.1 in2
Galaxy S8
5.8″ (18.5:9 ratio) = 13.2 in2
~29% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
617 nits
1839 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3]

Design and build

Height 148.9 mm (5.86 inches) 161.6 mm (6.36 inches)
Width 68.1 mm (2.68 inches) 76.9 mm (3.03 inches)
Thickness 8 mm (0.31 inches) 7.4 mm (0.29 inches)
Weight 155 g (5.47 oz) 193 g (6.81 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling - Vapor chamber
Rear material Glass Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue, Red, Pink Gray, Blue, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, rear Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
84.2%
88.6%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
SoC
Chipset Samsung Exynos 9 Octa 8895 Samsung Exynos 2500
Max clock 2300 MHz 3300 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 10 (1 + 2 + 5 + 2)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.69 GHz: Cortex-A53
- 4 cores at 2.314 GHz: Exynos M2
- 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 - 16 MB
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung
Lithography process 10 nanometers 3 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) No Yes
GPU
Graphics Mali-G71 MP20 Xclipse 950
GPU shading units 240 1024
GPU clock 546 MHz 999 MHz
FLOPS ~262.1 GFLOPS ~4091.9 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
361
2217
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
1240
7699
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 22100
Single-core score 361 2217
Multi-core score 1240 7699
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
430382
2289696
CPU 184651 771016
GPU 78838 723824
Memory 99514 356421
UX 67379 438435
Total score 430382 2289696
Samples [7 tests] Less than 3

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Samsung Galaxy S8
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-29 -> NikoGGAnTuTu 12548582
📘 2026-06-03 (leo)AnTuTu 11421047
📘 2026-02-23 (Ok)AnTuTu 11430382
📘 2025-12-31 (Barmaley)AnTuTu 11447464
📘 2025-12-26 (Barmaley)AnTuTu 11447464
Samsung Galaxy S26 FE
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-15 -> Malagau2AnTuTu 122751051
📘 2026-10-13 (Feran)AnTuTu 122750381

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 1794 MHz -
Channels 2 4
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 2.1 UFS 4.0
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 256 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 7.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 9.0) Android 17
ROM One UI One UI 9.0
OS size 11.7 GB -
OS updates - 7 years
Security updates - 7 years

Battery

Capacity 3000 mAh 4900 mAh
Max charge power 15 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Ion -
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes, Qi/PMA Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging No Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging - No
Fast charging Yes, Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge (40% in 30 min) Yes (69% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:45 hr 1:08 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 06:26 hr 09:42 hr
Watching video 10:09 hr 17:42 hr
Gaming 04:05 hr 06:12 hr
Standby 85 hr 117 hr
General battery life
16:58 hr
25:38 hr

Main camera

Matrix 12 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 4000 x 3000 8160 x 6120
Zoom Digital Optical, 3x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 120FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 240 FPS (720p) 960 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens - 123°
Lenses 1) Standard: 12 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Telephoto: 8 MP
3) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Pro mode - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 12 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.7 f/1.8
Focal length 26 mm 24 mm
Sensor Sony IMX333 Samsung ISOCELL S5KGN3
Sensor size 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch) 1/1.57" (≈ 0.64 inch)
Pixel size 1.4 micron 1 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution - 8 MP
Aperture - f/2.4
Focal length - 75 mm
Sensor - OmniVision OV08A10
Sensor size - 1/4.4" (≈ 0.23 inch)
Pixel size - 1 micron
Stabilization - Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution - 12 MP
Aperture - f/2.2
Focal length - 13 mm
Sensor - Samsung S5K3L6
Sensor size - 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size - 1.12 micron
Stabilization - Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Samples Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S8 from DxOMark -

Selfie camera

Megapixels 8 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 3264 x 2448 3648 x 2736
Aperture f/1.7 f/2.2
Focal length 25 mm 26 mm
Sensor Samsung S5K3H7 CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.6" (≈ 0.28 inch) 1/3.2" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 1.22 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus No
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1440p at 30 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
Photo 86 -
Video 107 -

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5.4
Bluetooth features PBAP/PAB, PAN, OPP, MAP, LE, HSP, HID, HFP, DIP, AVRCP, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot Yes No
LTE Cat* 16 20
5G support No Yes

Sound

Speakers Mono Stereo
Headphone audio jack Yes No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
82.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced March 2017 August 2026
Release date April 2017 September 2026
Launch price (MSRP) $720 $699
Successor - Samsung Galaxy S26 FE -
SAR (head) 0.315 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.27 W/kg -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger - 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 FE is definitely a better buy.

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