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Samsung’s top-of-the-line Galaxy S26 Ultra gives tough competition to the likes of the Pixel and the iPhone, but it also has the highest list price, starting at $1,300. If you don’t see much value in its S Pen or its fancy new Privacy Display, however, you could always shop for the regular Galaxy S26, which also happens to be one of the best compact smartphones you can buy. Samsung bumped the price of the base model Galaxy S26 this year by $100, with the device now starting at $900, but it does offer twice the storage at 256GB. If you’re looking for the best bang for the buck, though, you might want to consider the Galaxy A26.

It sits quite a few tiers below the Galaxy S26 and is not meant to compete with premium offerings from other brands. What it offers, though, is an essential Samsung experience for people who prefer One UI or those who have already dipped their toes in Samsung’s ecosystem by purchasing a pair of Galaxy Buds or a Galaxy Watch. Launched at $300, the Galaxy A26 can often be had for well under its retail price. 

Currently on Amazon, the Galaxy A26 is priced at $263 and seems to be quite popular with a 4.1-star rating and over 1,100 reviews. Though you can also find a Galaxy S26 at a discount quite often, the A26 is substantially more affordable and checks many of the right boxes.

Despite using a plastic frame, the Galaxy A26 comes with a glass back panel that’s protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+. The display is larger at 6.7 inches, and it is an AMOLED panel that refreshes at 120Hz. Although the base variant that Samsung sells comes with 128GB of storage, the Amazon listing points to the model with 256GB of space and 8GB of RAM. It even one-ups the Galaxy S26 by offering a microSD card slot for future expandability.

Samsung’s seven-year software update policy for its flagship S and Z-series devices is commendable, but the Galaxy A26 isn’t too far behind with six generations of OS upgrades and six years of security updates. The budget segment is where manufacturers usually skimp on the software experience, so there aren’t many options better than the Galaxy A26 if you’re looking for longevity.

With Ingress Protection (IP) ratings becoming more common in smartphones, it’s nice to see the Galaxy A26 come with an IP67 certification. Owing to its lower-powered internals, Samsung has hilariously advertised only a few “Awesome Intelligence” features with the A26. These include Google’s Circle to Search and Samsung’s Object Eraser — both of which are arguably some of the more useful AI features around. The mid-range and budget segments are usually where OEMs have to work the hardest to stand out. This is why Samsung is also including a 25W charger in the bundle — something Galaxy S26 buyers will have to shell out extra for.

Samsung’s obsession with trying to make all of its phones look the same isn’t necessarily a bad thing — it actually gives the Galaxy range a brand identity. However, this means the triple-camera setup on the Galaxy A26 is really just two useful sensors and a third 2-megapixel macro camera. The Exynos 1380 chip that powers the phone is decent enough for day-to-day tasks and a bit of gaming, but it really is no match for the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 that Samsung’s flagship models use.

The display is a fast AMOLED panel, but it doesn’t have HDR certification. The display resolution is the same as the Galaxy S26, so text and videos should look plenty sharp. The waterdrop notch and the thicker bottom bezel do take away the premium look that the Galaxy S series enjoys, but at least the phone doesn’t have a large notch and a 60Hz display (like a certain $600 iPhone).

The Galaxy A26 packs in a 5,000 mAh battery — the same capacity as the flagship Galaxy S26 Ultra. However, battery life has reportedly been one of the phone’s weakest aspects. In GSMArena’s review, the Galaxy A26 fell behind other similarly priced smartphones. It’s also missing wireless charging, though at this price point, that doesn’t come as a surprise. The Galaxy A26 doesn’t come with support for Samsung DeX, which, on other phones and tablets, lets you connect to a display wirelessly for a desktop-like experience.