I spent weeks with the Galaxy S26 Extremely, and I don’t get the hype

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Extremely is a great telephone. If truth be told, in case you’re coming from a four-year-old tool, it is going to most likely really feel like a revelation. However as somebody who lives and breathes cellular tech, I’ve hit a wall. At $1,300, “excellent” is now not the benchmark; “unusual” is. And moderately frankly, the S26 Extremely appears like a Galaxy S23 Extremely-S — a 2023 soul trapped in a 2026 frame.

The S26 Extremely appears like an Extremely in title most effective

For a few years, the Galaxy Be aware and therefore the Galaxy Extremely branding stood for Samsung throwing the entirety on the wall to peer what caught. As of late, that $1,300 price ticket feels much less like an R&D funding and extra like a subsidy for Samsung’s large advertising and distribution system.

Don’t get me improper: The Galaxy S26 Extremely does have some inventions of its personal, just like the Privateness Show. It’s an ideal piece of generation that permits you to conceal content material from the show or part of it. However as helpful as it’s, the execution has the hallmarks of “first-generation” generation written all over the place it.

I accept as true with my colleague Zac Kew-Dennis that the S26 Extremely’s panel high quality seems not so good as the Galaxy S25 Extremely, even with the characteristic off (and it completely washes out when the characteristic is on). You additionally get an inferior anti-glare enjoy than ultimate 12 months. Galaxy S26 Extremely consumers are necessarily paying a top class for a beta-tester enjoy on a lineup that has lengthy deserted the type of rough-edged innovation customers used to tolerate within the Be aware days. Select a lane, Samsung!

Samsung’s stagnation extends to the basics of {hardware}. The S Pen — as soon as iconic and a defining characteristic of the Be aware after which the Extremely — has been decreased to a shadow of its former self: thinner, with an edged cap, and stripped of its Bluetooth options.

Even the construct has regressed. Reverting to Armor Aluminum, after years of bullishness on Titanium, appears like a cynical cost-cutting measure that occurs to coincide with Apple’s personal pullbacks. For $1,300, customers must be getting the most productive fabrics to be had, now not a mid-cycle retreat.

Samsung’s leap to 60W charging is a vintage case of too little, too overdue. It’s embarrassing that during 2026, Samsung hasn’t even stuck as much as the 65W speeds OnePlus presented in 2020 with the OnePlus 8T!

Moreover, a seven-year replace dedication is a hole victory when the {hardware} (aside from the processor) is to this point at the back of the curve lately that it’s not likely to be a pleasing enjoy through 2033. As an example, the Galaxy S26 Extremely nonetheless makes use of a 1/1.3-inch number one digicam sensor, whilst the remainder of the Ultras have moved directly to 1-inch optics.

We’re seeing competition undertake silicon-carbon batteries with a lot upper power densities, or even quicker charging techniques — you get multi-day battery existence from mins of charging. However, Samsung’s {hardware} is already coasting on the day before today’s laurels, and 7 years of instrument patches received’t repair an undersized sensor or different {hardware} shortcomings.

The S26 Extremely most effective will get a cross as a result of the true festival is locked out of america. Manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and HUAWEI are in a special ballgame with regards to Extremely tech, however US shoppers don’t have simple get entry to to those global possible choices.

Samsung is enjoying it protected as a result of it might probably. The Galaxy S26 Extremely isn’t combating for shelf area in provider shops in opposition to the Xiaomi 17 Extremely, OPPO To find X9 Extremely, or the vivo X300 Extremely. It’s combating (and has received) in opposition to the likes of Motorola, Google, and OnePlus at the Android facet of the river. Samsung constructed sufficient emblem energy for “Galaxy” that it continues to drag the typical shopper, leaving the corporate much less harassed to be as daring because the Chinese language manufacturers combating for a foothold.

Samsung doesn’t want to innovate to draw consideration; it merely wishes to control its dominant place in key markets, equivalent to america, a place it constructed on a prior decade of innovation, combating in opposition to the likes of LG and HTC. Consumers in those key markets simply don’t notice what they’re lacking out on within the absence of Chinese language manufacturers. Sadly, the Galaxy S26 Extremely is essentially the most Extremely telephone they may be able to get at this time.

Even inside america bubble, the partitions are last in, and the choices are changing into extra aggressive. Apple’s ecosystem stays a powerful pull with a powerful app enjoy and a stunning tempo of new innovation, and the corporate’s endured good fortune must fear Samsung sufficient already. However, the Pixels settle for their flaws for a decrease price ticket relatively than pretending to be Ultras.

In lots of instances, even older {hardware} just like the OnePlus 13 makes a extra compelling argument for some customers than the S26 Extremely. Heck, even the Galaxy S25 Extremely at a decrease price ticket comes out on most sensible of the Galaxy S26 Extremely. The similar arguments dangle for the Galaxy S24 Extremely and the Galaxy S23 Extremely too.

Once I say even a Galaxy S23 Extremely holds its personal, I don’t imply it’s quicker; I imply the marginal application of the S26 Extremely doesn’t justify the cost distinction. The S23 Extremely and S24 Extremely presented a extra constant show enjoy with out the Privateness Show’s readability trade-offs, a extra premium-feeling construct, and S Pens that in truth felt like productiveness gear relatively than vestigial plastic — all at a extra reasonably priced price ticket in 2026 if you’ll be able to to find gadgets round you. You in reality aren’t lacking out on a lot in case you skip the S26 Extremely, and for a telephone at this value level, that’s a damning indictment.

I’ve attempted to like the Galaxy S26 Extremely, however to me, it’s essentially the most dull telephone of the 12 months. Samsung has delivered what is basically a Galaxy S23 Extremely-S — a protected, decidedly reasonable enjoy masquerading as the head of Android. It’s now not a nasty telephone, nevertheless it’s now not a very good telephone both, and it had to be the latter to proudly name itself an Extremely.

If Samsung doesn’t get started taking dangers once more, the “Extremely” emblem will sooner or later imply not anything greater than “the costliest glass-slab telephone within the provider retailer.” That isn’t only a disgrace for Samsung; it’s a nasty omen for all the US cellular marketplace.