8:29
Hey, what's up, guys? Today we've got two high-end Samsung phones duking it out. There's the recently released Galaxy S26 FE versus the previous model, the Galaxy S25 FE. Normally, a newer model comes with upgrades that would make it the more desirable option. But after testing the ins and outs of both of these phones, it turns out that the old model is just as good or even better in some respects. Let me show you what I mean. Getting a new Galaxy FE phone isn't quite as exciting as it used to be. Manufacturers, including Samsung, have been pretty stingy lately when it comes to upgrades. And
meanwhile, prices are climbing higher than ever. So, it makes sense to compare to the older S25 FE. In Europe, it's about 50 bucks cheaper than the S26 FE, and the gap is 100 bucks in the States. At least when it comes to the design, these two phones are hard to tell apart. The two phones have about the same dimensions and weight and the same build materials. You get Gorilla Glass Victus on the front and the back and an Armor Aluminum frame. But they're not quite identical. The new model is glossy, not matte, and it has a transparent island
connecting the cameras. The new FE does come in different colors, too: Blueberry, Graphite, and Pistachio. The older Galaxy had four color options: Icy Blue, Jet Black, Navy, and White. The ingress protection is the same on either phone, IP68-rated dust and water resistance. But something worth mentioning is that the S26 FE's USB-C port is now just USB 2.0, while last year's model has the faster USB 3.2. Also, the new model no longer has video output, so you only get wireless DeX and no wired option. Strange that Samsung would downgrade it like that. But let's not beat around the bush. The main
difference between these two phones is the chipset. The Galaxy S26 FE runs on a more recent Exynos 2500 chipset. It's the same as we saw in the Galaxy Z Flip 7, and it promises to be an improvement over the previous generation in both power and efficiency. Meanwhile, the S25 FE runs on the previous Exynos 2400 chip, again made by Samsung. It may be less powerful than many chipsets out there on the market, but it's still considered flagship-grade. In benchmark tests, the S26 FE indeed outperforms the previous model by about 16% in CPU-based tests and almost 25% in graphics-based results. It's a measurable difference, but it isn't night and day
and perhaps not even noticeable outside of heavy tasks or gaming. But we did find another nice improvement worth mentioning, though. The S26 FE has much improved sustained performance and thermals compared to the previous model. And because of the chipset, there's another change between these two phones, and that's their battery life, which we made sure to test thoroughly. With both FEs having the same-sized 4,900 mAh batteries, it may seem like you'd be getting similar battery life, but that's not the case here. Swapping out the chipset affected the efficiency. In our detailed battery life tests, the S26 FE earned a considerably higher combined active use score of nearly 15 hours compared to about 12 hours in last year's model.
The biggest improvements we saw were in the web browsing test and the video playback test. So, if you're planning to do a lot of that on your phone, then the new model's longer runtimes might appeal to you. We weren't expecting any changes in the charging speed as it's rated the same at 45 watts on both of these Galaxy phones. But in our meticulously timed charging tests, the S26 FE was able to charge to a few percentage points more at the half-hour mark. Though a full charge took the same time between the two. We are clearly seeing a tweaked charging power curve on the new model, and the faster initial charging could come in handy when you're in a hurry.
As for wireless charging, it's rated at 15 watts either way. There are no embedded magnets in either phone, so no change here. But we discovered one other area in which these phones differ, and that's the speakers. Both of these phones have a similar stereo speaker setup, but for some reason the S26 FE is a bit quieter, with a loudness score of Good versus Very Good on last year's model. The sound quality is about the same, though. Let's have a listen to compare.
You'd think that Samsung might have fitted an improved display on the S26 FE, but that's not the case. Both phones have a 6.7-inch OLED with a 1080p resolution and an adaptive 120 Hz refresh rate. So, content looks equally good either way with the same sharpness and HDR support. And you also get about the same maximum brightness on either panel. So, there's no real difference when it comes to usability out in the sun. And for biometrics, both phones have an under-display optical fingerprint reader. The higher-tier ultrasonic fingerprint tech still hasn't trickled down to the FE series.
Both the S26 FE and the S25 FE are running the same interface, Samsung's new One UI 9 on top of Android 17. Keep in mind that the older model will run out of software support faster, but at seven years total, that's not anytime soon. You can learn more about One UI 9's specific features in our dedicated video. And you can get either phone with 128, 256, or 512 gigs of storage on board. Now onto the cameras, which seem to have remained the same between these two generations. But still, we want to see if there might be some improvement in the image quality. On the back of either phone, there's a 50-megapixel main cam,
an 8-megapixel 3x telephoto zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide cam with fixed focus. Both phones capture pretty great photos with their main cameras during the day. Both have lively color output and no problems with dynamic range. The new model seems a bit more restrained with the sharpening, and detail rendition is a little finer, but it's not a huge difference. The 2x zoom results from both phones are solid. The S26 FE does seem to be a bit ahead here, though the old model is still not bad for the class.
The telephoto cameras are about on par as well. It's very hard to spot a difference. The S26 FE's ultrawide isn't much of an improvement over the S25 FE's. Whatever differences we can find are small and not that consistent. It's essentially a toss-up. In the dark, both phones capture similar levels of detail. They tend to leave quite a bit of grain in the images, and they're not that keen on using night mode automatically. The S25 FE does tend to be a bit more contrasty, though.
Forcing night mode on cleans up the noise and dials up the sharpening on both phones, but the difference is more pronounced on the new model. The telephoto shots in automatic mode aren't great from either phone. Both are soft and noisy. Night mode turns things around a lot. It's clearly the way to go when zooming after dark. The rendition of the details seems a little better on the S25 FE. Low-light ultrawide shots aren't great on either phone. The new model seems to be slightly sharper, though. With night mode on, things are pretty close between these two phones.
When it comes to selfies, both phones are more or less on the same level, and you'd be getting pretty nice images no matter which one you chose. And here's a look at 4K selfie videos taken with either phone. During the day, video quality is roughly similar between these two phones. Though the S26 FE does have a slight advantage in sharpness across the board. It's not a huge difference, though. At night, the S25 FE's more contrasty take is more to our liking, and its main cam footage is also a bit sharper. Neither the telephoto nor the ultrawide is great at night, just usable.
So, there you have it. The Galaxy S26 FE and last year's S25 FE. So, which one comes out on top? The two phones look quite similar. They have the same design and ingress protection. And the bright adaptive refresh rate display is the same either way. Both of them bring the Samsung software experience. The charging speed is essentially the same. And the camera experience is pretty close, too. But the S26 FE has a few clear advantages: the newer, more powerful chipset, better thermals, and longer battery life, particularly for web browsing and video streaming. However, the S25 FE has a few advantages of its own. Its USB-C connectivity is faster, and it supports wired DeX. Its speakers are louder,
and it's able to deliver the same user experience overall for a lower price. Again, the S26 FE is about 50 bucks more expensive in Europe and 100 bucks in the USA. But if battery life is your priority, it could be worth paying a little extra for. Other than that, the S25 FE can do everything the new model can, and even a little more. So, it's probably the better value option. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you on the next one.
