All the features I’d like to see

Samsung likes to make a splash in the beginning of every new yr. Its Galaxy S series flagships are a number of the first off the presses, giving us a style of latest AI options, contemporary Snapdragon (or Exynos) chipsets, and a number of the latest, hardest supplies that Corning’s Gorilla Glass staff has created. And on the prime of that bunch sits the Galaxy S Extremely.

By now, Samsung’s prime canine is a recognized amount — the Extremely goes to be huge, it’s going to be highly effective, and it’s going to return with a built-in S Pen from the times of the Galaxy Be aware line. Nevertheless, there’s at all times a bit room to dream about what else Samsung may do to flesh out these options. So, let’s take a look at only a few issues I’m hoping Samsung adjustments for its Galaxy S26 Extremely.

There aren’t any official rumors or leaks behind any of those. I’m only a man who wish to see the most effective Android telephones get even higher, so let’s hop to it.

Once I reviewed Samsung’s final Galaxy S25 Ultra, I got here away with combined emotions. Not on the efficiency entrance — the factor was a beast due to its Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset — however on the design entrance. Merely put, I couldn’t discover a comfy technique to maintain and use such a big gadget, and making it feel and look extra just like the smaller Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus wasn’t working.

Sure, it’s good that Samsung ditched the beforehand sharp corners on the prime and backside of its Extremely — it realized that it didn’t want a wonderfully flat edge for the S Pen to fit into — however I don’t just like the substitute design. Reasonably than preserve with the rounded sides that I’d come to take pleasure in on the Galaxy S23 Extremely and S24 Extremely, Samsung swapped to a flat, iPhone-like body, and it felt prefer it dug into my palms your complete time I reviewed the cellphone.

So, for the Galaxy S26 Extremely, let’s make curvy cool once more. Samsung’s rounded frames are a lot extra comfy to carry than its sharp, flat ones, to the purpose the place I’d fortunately return to one thing just like the Galaxy S23 once more just because I loved carrying it round. Switching to a rounded body would make the Galaxy S26 Extremely a bit extra distinctive, too, now that others like Google and Nothing have adopted flat frames.

Sticking with my plea for character, I’d prefer to see Samsung boost its digital camera bump to match its newfound (theoretical) curves. We largely made this comment concerning the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus, however there’s nearly nothing to get enthusiastic about when every of Samsung’s cameras sits in its personal round cutout. Mixed with the flat sides and easy colours, it practically makes the trio seem like generic telephones that Apple would use for comparability’s sake, with out the eyesore notch of their shows.

You realize when Samsung didn’t have this downside, although? When the Galaxy S21 and S22 sequence got here with their Contour Reduce digital camera bumps. They weren’t essentially fancy — you wouldn’t confuse them for one thing like the enormous disc on a OnePlus 13 or the digital camera bar on a Google Pixel — however they broke up the in any other case easy design and put a bit safety between every lens.

Now, it’s time for Samsung to deliver them again. I imply, it already gave its Galaxy S25 Edge (which I can’t consider I’ve now referenced twice) a bigger digital camera bump, letting it stick out nearly the thickness of the cellphone itself, and I just like the little dose of character that it provides. And certain, Samsung did that as a result of it couldn’t probably match the {hardware} inside the physique itself, however I nonetheless like that it breaks up the in any other case easy design.

Up subsequent, the Galaxy S Extremely has at all times held a repute as Samsung’s zoom king and one of many best camera phones round. It picked up 100x House Zoom whereas the smaller Galaxy S gadgets caught with 30x, and it’s at all times had the liberty to benefit from its additional megapixels. That mentioned, I nonetheless suppose that ditching the 10x optical telephoto sensor from the Galaxy S23 Extremely and changing it with the next decision 5x sensor was a mistake.

Now, it looks like Samsung may agree with me just a bit bit — even when it’s in a barely backwards approach. See, the Galaxy S25 Edge (there it’s once more), makes the attention-grabbing transfer to ship and not using a telephoto sensor of any type. Nevertheless, it nonetheless helps as much as 10x zoom from its main 200MP sensor due to a mixture of sensor cropping and AI processing, and I’ve been fairly impressed by the pictures I’ve captured over my month with the cellphone. So, in case you ask me, the 5x telephoto sensor appears pointless.

As a substitute, I’d prefer to see Samsung belief its large 200MP sensor for many of its base zoom. It might preserve the 3x telephoto sensor, permitting it to work with the first digital camera for every little thing from 3x zoom to simply shy of 10x zoom. Then, I’d like to see Samsung deliver again the marginally longer optical sensor for sharper outcomes as much as about 60x zoom. I most likely gained’t faucet into 100x zoom fairly often, but when an extended focal size means higher ends in the center, that’s ok for me.

Whereas most of my wishlist has been issues I can hope for from the following Galaxy S26 Extremely, this subsequent level may be an important: Samsung must make its S Pen good once more. If it’s going to maintain the stylus that gained over so many productiveness followers on the Galaxy Be aware sequence, it may well’t strip its options again to little greater than the stylus on Motorola’s way more reasonably priced Moto G Stylus, which is principally what it did on the Galaxy S25 Extremely.

Extra particularly, the Galaxy S24 Extremely’s S Pen used a Bluetooth LE connection to remain paired together with your cellphone, and it provided intelligent options like Air Actions, which you would carry out a number of inches away out of your display, and it additionally labored as a distant digital camera shutter for grabbing group selfies. Now, each of these conveniences are previously. As a substitute, the S Pen is, properly, only a pen — and a really costly one at that.

To make me happier with the Galaxy S26 Extremely, all Samsung has to do is undo what appears like a really foolish choice within the first place. It simply has to deliver again the outdated S Pen and provides it the options followers like. Possibly it stripped out a few of that performance from its stylus as a result of not sufficient folks had been utilizing it, however at that charge, it nearly makes extra sense to ditch the stylus altogether.

Ought to Samsung determine its S Pen doesn’t want a lot of an improve, I’ve one other suggestion: Give me Qi2 wireless charging. Sure, I do know the Galaxy S25 sequence was technically Qi2 Prepared and will work with magnets if put within the correct case, however that’s not sufficient for me. If I drop over $1,000 on a brand new cellphone, I’d prefer to see it help the newest wi-fi charging requirements.

Proper now, the rationale for not including magnets to Samsung’s most costly flagship is easy — they don’t play properly with the S Pen. And that’s wonderful, the S Pen was right here lengthy earlier than Qi2 debuted. Nevertheless, if the S Pen doesn’t play properly with the options it used to have, isn’t this extra like taking two L’s for the value of 1? I’m getting worse wi-fi charging and a much less practical stylus whereas paying greater than ever for a brand new flagship cellphone.

Since most of my options for the Galaxy S26 Extremely have are available in pairs to this point, let’s spherical it out with a barely bigger speak in regards to the cellphone’s battery and charging setup. Like most issues, Samsung hasn’t budged from what works on the Galaxy S Extremely lately, which implies its 5,000mAh cell and 45W wired charging are similar to what they had been on the Galaxy S22 Extremely — a cellphone that can be 4 years outdated when the following set of Galaxy S telephones comes out.

4 years is a very long time in cellphone years, and to cite Taylor Swift, “Every part has modified.” Silicon-carbon batteries are showing on increasingly more gadgets, with the comparatively tiny OnePlus 13T packing a 6,260mAh cell behind its 6.32-inch show and the flagship OnePlus 13 providing a 6,000mAh cell besides. So, for Samsung to say that 5,000mAh is sweet sufficient, it appears like settling for much less.

Sadly, 45W wired charging is not as spectacular because it was once, and USB-C continues to be a large number. OnePlus recurrently ships its telephones with 80W chargers within the field, and even Motorola is pushing 68W TurboPower on its newest Razr Extremely. Each are fast sufficient to run circles across the Galaxy S25 Extremely and get you again in your ft, even in case you want specific chargers for all three gadgets.

As dependable as the truth that the solar will come up tomorrow, there can be a Galaxy S26 Extremely. Samsung has used the moniker for greater than 5 generations throughout the Galaxy S and Galaxy Be aware lineups, and it’s onerous to see that altering. Actually, with the particular therapy that Samsung offers its Extremely, I’d go as far as to say that that is the most secure wager of your complete Galaxy S sequence.

In spite of everything, if Samsung had been to step away from its Extremely-tier flagship, it will be ceding management of the premium area to rivals just like the Pixel 9 Professional XL or iPhone 16 Professional Max — an unthinkable selection proper now. I believe Samsung may be risking its management over the section as it’s, particularly after the Galaxy S25 Extremely felt like a launch on autopilot, however that’s a debate for one more day.

Exterior of understanding that the Galaxy S26 Extremely is certainly on its approach, we don’t know a lot else. We are able to, nonetheless, take a stab at once we suppose the cellphone may launch primarily based on earlier Unpacked occasions. Right here’s when Samsung launched its previous few Galaxy S lineups:

• Samsung Galaxy S25 — Introduced January 22, 2025
• Samsung Galaxy S24 — Introduced January 17, 2024
• Samsung Galaxy S23 — Introduced February 1, 2023

If that’s something to go on, we should always count on a launch date in late January or early February of subsequent yr. This might change, although, with Qualcomm broadly anticipated to launch its subsequent flagship chipset in late September, which is sooner than its ordinary October window.

Whereas it was fairly straightforward to say that there can be a Galaxy S26 Extremely, the more difficult query is whether or not or not it’s best to wait to purchase it. At this level in 2025, we’re about as far-off from each the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S26 launches as we are going to get, so it’s like being dropped in a pool and deciding which approach you need to swim.

When you’re a robust swimmer (er, your cellphone is in good condition), you would most likely wait it out and choose up the Galaxy S26 Extremely when it’s finally introduced. You possibly can additionally wait till we get extra concrete rumors and leaks in place after which determine to seize the present Galaxy S25 Extremely as an alternative. In case your cellphone is on its final legs, it may be time to improve. It’s fairly straightforward to discover a whole lot on certainly one of Samsung’s present flagships, and it’ll prevent the anticipation of what may really feel like one other cookie-cutter replace by the point it launches.

You possibly can additionally look outdoors the Samsung ecosystem on the Pixel 9 Pro XL ($1099 at Amazon), which brings a Google-y aptitude and wonderful picture processing to the desk, or the OnePlus 13 ($899.99 at OnePlus), with its large battery, quick charging, and beautiful blue leather-based end. Then once more, they’ll each be due for next-generation upgrades quickly, too.