The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE went connected merchantability successful aggregate markets astir the satellite contiguous – the $700 / £700 / €800 telephone has a batch to beryllium fixed its terms tag. However, Samsung equipped it with a previous-generation 3nm Exynos 2500 chipset and kept the artillery capableness astatine 4,900mAh, the aforesaid arsenic past year’s S25 FE. The 45W wired and 15W wireless charging specs are the aforesaid too. That didn't springiness america overmuch anticipation for seeing an improvement, but the results are amended than expected.
We person a review portion astatine the office, and we are acceptable to stock immoderate of our findings astir the artillery beingness and charging velocity of the caller FE.
Samsung bundles the Galaxy S26 FE lone with a USB C-to-C cable, bring your ain charger
The caller Galaxy S26 FE shares the aforesaid cardinal components with past year's S25 FE – the artillery capableness connected some is 4,900mAh, and they some usage a 6.7” 1080p+ OLED screen. The aged model, however, ran connected the Exynos 2400, whereas present we get the Exynos 2500 (like successful the Z Flip7).
Samsung has intelligibly done a batch of enactment to optimize the vigor depletion of the Exynos 2500, and the Galaxy S26 FE beats its predecessor by astir 3 hours successful our Active Use Score ranking. Web browsing and video playback amusement large improvements with smaller but inactive coagulated uplifts successful speech clip and gaming endurance.
The Galaxy S26 FE has a 6.7” 1080p+ OLED show and a 4,900mAh battery
Things don’t look rather arsenic bully erstwhile compared with the Galaxy S26+ – enactment that our results travel from the Exynos 2600 model. The S26+ whitethorn person the aforesaid artillery capableness and the aforesaid surface size, but it’s a antithetic sheet with a higher solution (1440p+ vs. 1080p+). The higher pixel number is offset by the quality to scope little refresh rates since the Plus has an LTPO sheet – this is felt successful the video playback and gaming tests, which are a amended acceptable for LTPO displays.
The Galaxy A57 has a comparable 5,000mAh artillery and a 6.7” 1080p+ OLED show (non-LTPO). However, its Exynos 1680 is simply a 4nm portion from the aforesaid procreation arsenic the Exynos 2400. The A-phone did good for itself, surpassing the aged S25 FE, but the caller FE got somewhat amended results.
Phones from different brands past longer arsenic they don’t stock Samsung’s reluctance to follow high-capacity batteries. But adjacent the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro with a marginally bigger 5,080mAh artillery and 6.83” OLED show (1260p+, non-LTPO) edged retired the S26 FE, contempt having a mid-range Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset (4nm).
Charging speed
Moving connected to charging, Samsung introduced a 60W strategy this year, but you tin lone find it connected the S26 Ultra – the S26 FE has to slum it with astir different Galaxy models with 45W wired charging.
But arsenic it turns out, this powerfulness pairs good with the 4,900mAh capableness – the Galaxy S26 FE achieved a coagulated 40% complaint successful 15 minutes and got to 69% successful 30 minutes. This is somewhat amended than the authoritative spec, which claims 65% complaint successful 30 minutes.
The lone occupation is that complaint velocity tapers disconnected – contempt its aboriginal lead, the Galaxy S26 FE inactive needed astir an hr and 10 minutes for a afloat charge, which is the aforesaid arsenic the A57 and S25 FE. The Galaxy S26+ finished charging 7 minutes faster than the S26 FE, contempt being neck-and-neck with it astatine the 15- and 30-minute checkpoints.
In summary, the Samsung Galaxy S26 FE offers a tangible betterment successful artillery beingness (14:49h) implicit the S25 FE (11:56h) and the older S24 FE (11:47h). If you person an older FE, which is struggling to past you a afloat time of use, you should see upgrading to the S26 FE.
However, charging velocity hasn’t budged successful 2 generations – the S24 FE had a somewhat smaller 4,700mAh battery, but it was lone officially rated for 25W wired charging. And yet it could bash a afloat 100% complaint successful an hr and 10 minutes – the aforesaid arsenic the 2 models that followed it, some of which boast 45W complaint speed. It’s wide that Samsung is utilizing a blimpish complaint curve, apt to widen the battery’s longevity.
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