Samsung held a surprise second Galaxy event on August 27, just weeks after its main summer Unpacked show, to introduce the Galaxy S26 FE — and today it’s officially on sale everywhere, with select carriers having offered it a day early.
The Fan Edition slots in $200 below the standard Galaxy S26, starting at $699.99 for a 128GB model, with a 256GB option also available. That’s $50 more than last year’s Galaxy S25 FE cost at launch, and reviewers have been quick to note the timing: memory chip prices have climbed sharply across the industry this year, and Samsung isn’t alone in passing some of that along to buyers.
Hardware-wise, the S26 FE plays it safe rather than flashy. It uses the same Exynos 2500 chip found in the Galaxy Z Flip 7, paired with 8GB of RAM, a 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display at 120Hz and up to 1,900 nits of brightness, and a 4,900mAh battery with 45W wired charging. The triple rear camera carries over a familiar 50-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel ultrawide, and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. It’s IP68 rated for dust and water resistance and supports both wireless and reverse wireless charging.
What is new is mostly on the software side. The S26 FE is the first phone in the S26 lineup to ship with One UI 9 out of the box, built on Android 17, and it introduces a “My FanCam” feature alongside an updated Photo Assist tool for cleaning up shots. Samsung is also backing the phone with seven years of software and security updates, matching the support window it now offers on its numbered flagships.
It comes in three colors — Blueberry, Graphite, and Pistachio — and Samsung is sweetening the launch with a trade-in bonus and an early-bird discount in some markets, plus six months of Google AI Pro with 5TB of cloud storage in Europe. If you’re weighing this against a discounted Galaxy S25 FE, the hardware gap between the two is genuinely small, so it’s worth comparing prices carefully before deciding which one actually saves you money.