No significant breakthroughs for Samsung's latest S26 duo

The Samsung Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus smartphones feel like more of the same, with minimal changes from their predecessors. While the new Galaxy S26 Ultra gets a feature upgrade with its privacy display, the smaller models lack a game-changing hardware addition. The new chipsets provide some performance gains, but these are largely incremental improvements rather than significant overhauls. The bigger battery in the S26 and faster wireless charging on the S26 Plus offer minor advantages, but they don’t justify the devices’ premium prices. The most notable omission is Samsung’s decision not to adopt Google’s magnetic Qi2 charging standard, a feature that has become increasingly common among other Android manufacturers. Overall, the S26 and S26 Plus phones feel like incremental updates rather than bold new steps forward for Samsung.