Samsung Galaxy A26 arrives a bit late this time around, but it brings a bigger display and a more powerful chipset to the affordable A2x series. The junior model of the fresh Samsung A-series was tested by the media. The smartphone offers a couple of upgrades compared to the A25, including a larger screen and a better chipset. We find out whether the device is worth attention, referring to the reviews of journalists.
Appearance, battery, display
The device uses good materials: Gorilla Glass+ is installed on the front and back, and only the edges are plastic. The phone is quite compact due to its small thickness (7.7 mm). On the front panel, a teardrop-shaped cutout and a thickened lower frame are noticeable – everything is typical for the class. A nice bonus is the IP67 protection of the case, which is not afraid of immersion in water up to 1 meter. There are black, white, green and orange colors. The fingerprint scanner is built into the side power button. In the novelty, however, for some reason, they abandoned the stereo sound that its predecessor had – an unfortunate step backwards.
Samsung Galaxy A26 is a microSD card slot and an NFC module. But the proximity sensor, unfortunately, is virtual – turning off the display during calls would work more stably with a physical counterpart. Samsung Galaxy A26 matrix is represented by a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel with FHD+ resolution and support for 120 Hz. Alas, the brightness turned out to be mediocre by the standards of OLED solutions – 777 nits in auto adjustment and only 365 nits in manual mode. While this is enough indoors, readability under the bright sun won’t be the best. In this price segment, models with numbers 20-40% higher are not uncommon.
Samsung Galaxy A26 is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery. The cell is compatible with 25-watt charging, but there is no adapter in the box. In mixed testing of GSMArena, the gadget functioned for 10 hours and 44 minutes – an unimpressive result, albeit slightly superior to the Galaxy A25. Many competitors lasted 1-2 hours longer in the same scenario. The A26, in particular, used inefficient power in the browser and when playing videos. And the speed of energy replenishment leaves much to be desired: the battery is completely replenished from scratch in 1 hour 26 minutes.
Productivity and shooting
The smartphone is built on an Exynos 1380 processor along with 6/8 GB of RAM and 128/256 GB of storage (UFS 2.2). In everyday scenarios, performance is consistent, although navigation could be slightly more responsive. The chipset holds 70-80% of the maximum in the CPU throttling test. Here are the benchmark results:
- AnTuTu 10 — 579 811;
- Geekbench 6 — 1010 (single-core), 2768 (multi-core);
- 3DMark Wild Life Extreme (2160p) — 794.
Android 15 with One UI 7 firmware is pre-installed as the OS. Software support is pleasing: 6 years of numbered updates and security patches are not often found in the budget class. Another question is whether the hardware will be enough to run smoothly after so many years. Some AI features from the flagships, including Circle to search, AI Select, and AI Object Eraser, are available here.
Samsung Galaxy A26 camera is triple: Samsung JN1 main sensor (50 MP, f/1.8, 1/2.76″, OIS), ultra-wide (8 MP, 120°) and macro (2 MP). There is a 13 MP front module. Photosensors migrated from the Galaxy A25 unchanged. Video recording is made at a maximum resolution of 4K and a frame rate of 30 fps. On the A26, you can get good shots in perfect lighting, but the quality noticeably sags indoors. In the evening, noises and problems with color temperature are noticeable, although the night mode somehow corrects the picture. Selfies turned out to be an unexpected strength of the device – excellent detail and color reproduction put the phone above analogues with a similar price.
Summing up, reviewers believe that the gadget is unremarkable in most aspects. In the range of up to 30 thousand rubles, the competition is very strong. It is not difficult to find better options in one respect or another.
Samsung Galaxy A26 specs at a glance:
- Body: 164.0×77.5×7.7mm, 200g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus+), plastic frame, glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+); IP67 dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 min).
- Display: 6.70″ Super AMOLED, 120Hz, 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 385ppi; Always-on display.
- Chipset: Exynos 1380 (5 nm) – Global, Exynos 1280 (5 nm) – LATAM: Octa-core (4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 & 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) – Global, Octa-core (2×2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55) – LATAM; Mali-G68 MP5 – Global, Mali-G68 – LATAM.
- Memory: 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot).
- OS/Software: Android 15, up to 6 major Android upgrades, One UI 7.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 27mm, 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra-wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 1/4″, 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 13 MP, f/2.2, (wide), 1/3.06″, 1.12µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps, 720p@480fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; 25W wired.
- Connectivity: 5G; Wi-Fi 5; BT 5.3; NFC.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); Virtual proximity sensing, Circle to Search.
