The Best Samsung Phones of 2026, Tested and Reviewed

Other Samsung Phones to Consider

If you don't spot a Samsung telephone mentioned successful this guide, that mightiness beryllium due to the fact that it's not sold successful the US and is simply a small harder to root for testing. But present are a fewer different Samsung phones I've tested to consider.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge for $1,220: Have you ever wanted a really bladed and lightweight phone? No? Well, Samsung has an enactment for you anyway. The Galaxy S25 Edge (6/10, WIRED Review) sits successful the mediate of Samsung's flagship lineup and matches respective features of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, similar a titanium frame, stronger beforehand glass, and 4K 120 frames per 2nd video recording. All the cameras adjacent person autofocus. But it made respective sacrifices to execute its amazingly slim 5.8-mm framework (for context, the S25 Ultra is 8.2 mm thick). There's nary stylus, nary telephoto camera, and worst of all, the artillery capableness has been slashed. We've seen this before—thin phones person ever compromised connected artillery life, and that's nary antithetic here. I perpetually had to babe this phone's 3,900-mAh artillery with mean to dense usage, and that's conscionable not acceptable. (The iPhone Air did it better.) If you find yourself perpetually adjacent a powerfulness root and you deliberation you'll bask the slim and airy design, past spell for it. Rumors suggest that the Edge did not execute well, and it whitethorn not spot a successor successful 2026.

Samsung Galaxy A17 5G for $200: On paper, the Galaxy A17 (5/10, WIRED Review) seems similar a truly large deal. Six years of bundle support, an AMOLED screen, expandable storage, and a decent camera. Unfortunately, it's held backmost by lackluster performance. The occupation is specifically the precise constricted 4 GB of RAM successful the US model, which severely ruins the full acquisition of utilizing the phone. If you had to usage your smartphone successful an emergency, I would not spot the A17 to beryllium reliable. But if your needs are highly minimal, it whitethorn suffice.

Samsung Galaxy A36 5G for $395: The Galaxy A36 (6/10, WIRED Review) doesn't rather measurement up to its peers from Nothing and Motorola. Performance is conscionable excessively choppy, and that's not acceptable astatine this price. It's manageable—it's not truthful dilatory that it volition frustrate—but you tin bash better. If your needs are precise minimal, it's an OK phone, and the camera strategy is good, with day-long artillery life, a bully AMOLED screen, and 6 years of bundle updates.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 oregon Galaxy Z Flip6: If you don't privation to wage a premium for a caller folding phone, past see 2024's Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip7 (7/10, WIRED Review). The Fold6 has a adjacent to “normal” smartphone acquisition connected the exterior 6.3-inch screen. Open the telephone up, and there's a immense 7.6-inch AMOLED surface staring astatine your face, turning this folding telephone into a tiny tablet. The Flip6 isn't arsenic bully arsenic the newer Flip7—the bigger and brighter screen surface connected the latest exemplary is simply a measurement up—but it's worthy considering implicit the caller Galaxy Z Flip7 FE. Technically, it's astir identical to that phone, but the FE uses a Samsung Exynos spot alternatively of a Qualcomm processor, and show whitethorn not beryllium arsenic smooth. The main drawback? Battery beingness isn't great. Make definite you don't wage MSRP for these 2024 phones.

If you're looking to prevention immoderate cash, it's good to bargain Samsung's Galaxy S23 range oregon the Galaxy S23 FE from 2023, arsenic agelong arsenic the prices are a bully woody little than the archetypal MSRP. (They're hard to find astatine astir large retailers.) These phones volition inactive get enactment for a while, and they're beauteous great. I don't deliberation it's worthy buying thing older.

Should You Invest successful Samsung’s Ecosystem?

Samsung is 1 of the fewer smartphone manufacturers that tin lucifer Apple successful its hardware ecosystem. Not lone does the institution marque smartphones, but you tin besides grow your acquisition by adding connected a Galaxy Watch8 smartwatch, Galaxy Buds3 Pro earbuds, Galaxy Ring fittingness ring, Galaxy Tab S11, and adjacent a Windows-powered Galaxy laptop.

There are definite perks to this, similar however immoderate features connected the Galaxy Ring and Watch8 are lone disposable erstwhile paired with a Samsung phone, and its earbuds volition automatically power betwixt Samsung devices based connected what you're using. There's not overmuch successful the mode of exclusive features erstwhile utilizing a Galaxy telephone with a Galaxy laptop, but features similar Quick Share fto you speedily nonstop photos and documents betwixt your devices.

Again, it's not necessary, and these different devices mightiness not beryllium the close ones for you wrong their respective categories, but if you're chasing hardware parity, you person that enactment with Samsung.

What Is Galaxy AI?

With the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung launched “Galaxy AI," a enactment of artificial quality features, galore of which are powered by Google's Gemini ample connection models. These alteration astute features that whitethorn beryllium adjuvant time to day, similar real-time translations during telephone calls, real-time transcriptions successful Samsung's Voice Recorder app, the quality to summarize agelong paragraphs of substance successful the Samsung Notes app, oregon alteration a sentence's code with the Samsung Keyboard.

In the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy AI expanded to see Gemini arsenic the default dependable adjunct and the quality for Gemini to enactment with aggregate apps simultaneously. It besides debuted Drawing Assist, which lets you sketch oregon participate a punctual and get an AI-generated image. Now, you tin besides usage video successful real-time with Gemini, adjacent from the screen surface of the Galaxy Z Flip7.

You tin find galore of these features by heading to Settings > Galaxy AI to toggle them connected oregon off. We person an explainer connected however to bounds Galaxy AI to on-device processing, too.

What Is Samsung DeX?

Samsung's DeX (short for “desktop experience”) launched successful 2017, and it's a mode to plug successful your Samsung telephone to an outer show and trigger a desktop mentation of the Android OS, each wholly powered by the phone. You tin find a database of compatible Samsung phones here—the Flip7 is the archetypal Galaxy Flip to enactment DeX—and you'll request a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, positive a cable to link the telephone to the monitor. (You tin besides formed DeX to prime screens wirelessly.)

When successful DeX mode, you tin resize Android apps and person them each unfastened successful abstracted windows. It's a due computing platform, though you astir apt won't privation to usage this arsenic a imperishable laptop replacement oregon thing of the sort. It's large if you're visiting different office, oregon moving retired of a java store oregon airplane (if you person a portable display). We person a full usher to mounting up and utilizing DeX here.

How I Test Phones

I've been reviewing smartphones for a decade, but 1 of my earliest astute devices was a Samsung Galaxy Captivate, which I got for “free” from my bearer astatine the time. After moving during college, I yet saved capable currency for a Galaxy S3, my archetypal flagship. I've spent years utilizing Samsung phones successful my idiosyncratic beingness and began reviewing them for enactment not excessively agelong after.

With each Samsung smartphone, I ever enactment my idiosyncratic SIM paper wrong and walk arsenic agelong arsenic I tin (a fewer weeks) utilizing the telephone arsenic my own. I bash camera investigating and comparison the results with likewise priced devices, I benchmark show and play graphically demanding games to spot however they fare, I effort retired each the caller features, and adjacent instrumentality calls to marque definite that ol’ relation inactive works fine.

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