Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus Review: An Excellent Choice for Power Users

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus starts at Rs 94,999 in India for the variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. If you need more storage, the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage model is available for Rs 1,14,999.

This smartphone is available through Samsung online and offline stores, Amazon, Reliance Digital, and other major retail outlets. Samsung also offers additional benefits from time to time, including exchange bonuses, bank discounts, and No Cost EMI options, which can help reduce the effective purchase price.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus packs the following items inside the box:

• Phone
• Type C cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Documentation

Before we talk in detail about the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.7 inches Dynamic LTPO AMOLED screen
• Chipset: Exynos 2600 (2 nm)
• RAM & ROM: 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM
• Software: Android 16 OneUI 8.5
• Rear camera: 50MP, 10MP, 12MP
• Selfie camera: 12MP
• Battery: 4900mAh
• Weight: 190 grams
• Dimensions: 158.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm

Samsung has kept its premium design approach for the new release, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, but the larger size adds to its weight, making it feel heftier in my hands. The company has included a premium glass back design and a frame made out of Armour Aluminium 2 material.

I enjoyed how clean the back of the phone looked, thanks to its matte finish. It did not collect fingerprints easily, even with prolonged use. Its sturdy design is evident in its weight, and you get great tactile feedback from the phone’s buttons.

It may not be pocket-friendly due to its larger size compared to the standard Samsung Galaxy S26, but it has a balanced weight that doesn’t bother me when holding it while scrolling through social media posts, watching movies, or playing BGMI for hours at a time.

Moving on to the ports, it has a secondary speaker and microphones on the top, while the right side has a power button and volume buttons.

At bottom side, it has a Type-C slot, a speaker grill, a SIM tray, and a microphone as well.

Also Read: Vivo X300 FE Review: Powerful, Stylish, And Camera-Focused

The fact that I tested not one but two devices at the same time raised my expectations for the camera. Fortunately, Samsung managed to provide an incredibly stable and reliable camera experience.

One of my favourite features of Samsung cameras is that they don’t perform any unnatural image processing. Photos come out with natural colours and without any oversharpening of details.

During the Cashify 13th Birthday party, when the lights were constantly changing, the phone produced some truly amazing photos in the low-light mode. Highlights and lighting in general were handled well by the camera; the mood of the scene didn’t suffer despite difficult conditions.

Daylight shooting is equally impressive. One aspect worth highlighting in the daytime shooting is Portrait mode. It does an incredible job of edge detection and separating people from the rest of the frame to create a professional-looking background blur.

The regular shots are also very impressive; the colours are well balanced, and no unnecessary details are lost when taking photos. For example, phones like Vivo X300 FE tend to produce overly edited images straight away; Samsung keeps it simple, making it easier to retouch photos further on.

Performance on Zoom is yet another area that stands out. The device proves very useful up to 30x zoom. Even at 100x zoom, the details are pretty good and acceptable.

The front-facing camera is excellent as well, providing detailed photos with natural skin tones and proper edge separation in portrait mode.

If you are creating videos, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus will provide you with excellent 8K recordings and stabilisation. Samsung ensures colour uniformity across all cameras.

The battery is the strongest point of the Galaxy S26 Plus over the standard Galaxy S26.

It gave me great longevity while I was using the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus during review. On average, on days when I spent time scrolling through social media sites, taking photos, streaming movies on YouTube, texting, and even playing games, there was still enough battery left by the end of the day.

Even on tough days with more intense use, such as long BGMI sessions and photoshoots, the phone maintained reliable battery life. One should not overlook the fact that Samsung’s software optimisation played a part in that, since standby battery consumption was negligible overnight.

While battery consumption sometimes became a problem due to overheating when playing games and taking photos, the improved battery capacity made up for it.

In general, battery longevity is definitely one of the best features of the Galaxy S26 Plus.

Samsung’s prowess in building high-quality displays is evident in the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus as well. Indeed, the smartphone comes with a generous Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X panel that makes an immediate impression due to its sharpness and colour reproduction.

It was a pleasure viewing movies on YouTube and Netflix on such a massive display.

Display reproduces bright colours without compromising on the natural look. Samsung does not overdo the colour depth like some other brands.

An adaptive 120Hz refresh rate results in perfectly smooth animations across any user interface. Whether navigating One UI, scrolling through Instagram feeds, or playing games on the device, everything feels fast and smooth.

Also, the device is easy to use outdoors. During my testing period, I have had a chance to use the device several times outdoors in bright sunlight, and it was still possible to read text effortlessly. HDR content displays perfectly well with excellent black levels and a high contrast ratio.

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy A57 Review: A Balanced Smartphone With Flagship-Like Appeal

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus has the Exynos 2600 chipset in India. The performance is seamless and snappy in actual use.

I extensively tested the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus during review for multitasking, content creation, social media activity, and gaming. Application loading was quick, app switching was seamless, and overall RAM management was great.

The phone’s gaming performance is another thing worth praising. I played the game “BGMI” for several hours, and it performed without any problems.

There was only one flaw I discovered in its performance. Despite being a premium phone powered by a new generation 2nm processor, the Galaxy S26 Plus gets noticeably hot after extended use.

While taking photos and recording videos, as well as playing the game “BGMI,” I noticed that the phone was getting really warm. However, what amazed me the most was that this problem occurred even in an air-conditioned room.

Fortunately, performance was never seriously compromised. However, Samsung should improve thermal regulation, especially on this premium-priced phone.

Samsung continues to be strong in software, and the Galaxy S26 Plus maintains that legacy by offering One UI 8.5 based on Android 16.

I spent several weeks using the interface during the Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus review, and I can confidently say it’s one of my favourite Android interfaces. Everything feels refined, from the animations to multitasking. The user interface has a professional look without being too showy.

Another strong point about Samsung devices is their high levels of customisation. You can easily change your wallpaper, widgets, icons, and other aspects of the user interface depending on your preferences.

AI features developed by Galaxy also seem practical and helpful. This includes Circle to Search, AI editing functions, and other productivity improvements that make the smartphone experience even more enjoyable.

Finally, Samsung is notable for the long period during which its devices receive software updates. Users are aware that they won’t have to stop updating their phones for years to come.