Here’s what I want Samsung’s next flagships to do differently

I used to look forward to Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event, waiting to see where the company was going to take its phones next. But in recent years, that enthusiasm waned and eventually turned to skepticism.

With the launch of Galaxy S26 seriesI feel particularly disappointed. I have come to the conclusion that the company needs to make some major changes to its range to regain my interest in its flagships.

Samsung’s flagships are far behind the competition when it comes to battery size. Much of this is due to the company’s hesitancy to adopt silicon-carbon batterieswhich would allow for greater energy density.

He S26 Ultra It still comes with a 5000 mAh battery, a capacity that remains the same from the S20 Ultra. To put this into perspective, it means that since Samsung launched the Ultra tier of its Galaxy S devices, it hasn’t increased the battery size.

When it comes to the standard S26 and S26 Plus, Samsung has increased the battery capacity over time. But even this progress is minimal. I find it baffling that from the S23 Plus to the S26 Plus, the battery has only increased by 200 mAh.

I don’t think Samsung can rely on the hesitation to use silicon-carbon batteries as an excuse, although it is rumored that it can. investigating larger Si-C cells. He Pixel 10afor example, it has a 5,100 mAh battery and costs $400 less than the standard S26, which has a 4,300 mAh battery. If Samsung needs to make its phones a little thicker, that’s a trade-off it would be willing to make.

There was a time when it seemed like Samsung’s flagship range was well balanced in terms of features. However, in recent years the focus has definitely changed. While artificial intelligence and software have taken center stage in recent releases, whenever hardware is mentioned, the focus tends to be on the Ultra. The standard and Plus versions of the Galaxy S phones have become little more than a footnote.

looking at the S26 vs S23 series shows how little the devices have changed in three years. Both the S26 and S26 Plus have the same charging speeds as their S23 counterparts. As for the camera setup, there have been no changes to the resolution or optical zoom of the lenses. I feel disappointed for him S26 Ultra camera updates, but at least I can say that your camera is receiving updates.

As a result, upper-mid-range rivals often outperform the S26 and S26 Plus on many fronts, especially battery size and charging speed. last year Nothing phone 3a Pro It launched at $459.99, making it cheaper than a standard S26. However, it includes a 5000mAh battery, 50W wired charging, a 50MP periscope camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP front camera. I have been using the Honor 400 Pro For a few months now, and despite not being a flagship, it also has a 50MP telephoto lens. Meanwhile, it has a 6000mAh battery and 100W wired charging.

Even within Samsung’s own ecosystem, the Galaxy S25 FE It has also become the go-to device for people looking for flagship features at a better price. Given that it offers a better price and comparable specs to the S26, I struggle to see the appeal of the S26. Why not just wait for the S26 FE, which will presumably also have an updated processor and more RAM?

However, this was not always the case. The standard Galaxy S device used to be a capable flagship for people who wanted a big experience in a smaller package. It was still decidedly premium, but offered good value for money. The Plus gave a small boost to battery capacity, storage, and screen size. And the Ultra was the ultra-premium option for people who needed a really great camera and even more battery and processing power.

I’m glad that Samsung improved the lens apertures on its S26 Ultra camera (specifically the 200MP and 50MP lenses), as this will improve its low-light photography performance. However, I think more improvements can be made to the lenses, especially when it comes to optical zoom.

I have never forgiven Samsung for removing the 10x optical zoom from the Ultra rear camera. I just never get the results I would like when cropping to achieve an “optical quality” zoom (which is essentially a sensor crop) versus true optical zoom at long range. This “optical quality” marketing has also appeared for other device lenses. On the S26 Ultra, its 200MP wide-angle lens also features a 2x optical quality zoom. For the S26 and S26 Plus, the 50MP wide-angle lens also features 2x optical zoom.

I would prefer a true optical zoom, as well as a longer reach between lenses. For the successors to the S26 and S26 Plus, the 5x optical zoom could really improve the user experience. In the meantime, I’d like to see the return of 10x optical zoom to the next Ultra, while maintaining good resolution.

But this is the minimum, really. Samsung really should be at the forefront of camera innovation, especially with the S26 Ultra. After all, if you’re paying $1,299 for a smartphone, it really should lead on the camera front.

He Xiaomi 17 Ultra stands out as possibly the best Android camera phone, thanks to its innovative camera technology. This includes a variable aperture, focal length periscope camera and a large sensor. This offers great versatility that can be lost when multi-lens setups include low-quality lenses that increase camera count but produce inconsistent quality.

The S26 series’ battery capacity isn’t the only thing stuck in the past: its charging speeds are, too.

The only device in the series that has increased its charging speed is the S26 Ultra, which now supports 60W charging. While this is an improvement on paper, it is long overdue. In fact, it’s so far behind that it’s still behind the competition.

Samsung smartphones use the USB PD PPS protocol, but other devices using the same protocol already exceed the charging speeds of the S26 Ultra. The best example is the Xiaomi 17 Ultrawhich supports 90W PD PPS charging.

This leaves a lot of room for improvement for Samsung devices. The standard S26, in particular, has 25W charging, resulting in incredibly slow charging times for a flagship device in 2026.

Since the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung’s flagship launches have focused on AI. When generative AI was still relatively new, it was interesting to try out the different features. However, it soon became apparent that many were not significantly improving the user experience.

The launches of the S25 and S26 leaned even more towards AI. This included promoting Google features, which occasionally arrive on Galaxy devices first or at the same time as Pixel devices. But this partnership with Google is not exclusive, so the tools also end up on other Android phones. Just look Circle to searchwhich was first released on Galaxy and Pixel phones, but now it’s almost everywhere. Similarly, the Find The Look feature in Circle to Search is coming to the Galaxy S26 and Pixel 10 series smartphones first, but will also roll out to other Android devices.

For specific features of Samsung devices, you have to rely heavily on the Samsung ecosystem. But if you already have preferred apps for your web browsing and reminders, you might not see the appeal of switching to Samsung-only apps for just some AI features.

The new focus on agent AI also doesn’t appeal to me, as I’m concerned about potential privacy issues. I don’t think Samsung offers enough guarantees that data will remain safe when using these AI tools.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to get excited about Samsung’s flagship phones. They are the largest Android brand by market share. But I don’t feel like they are the leaders in terms of doing the best android phones not anymore.

While the S26 Ultra privacy screen It’s clever, it doesn’t seem innovative to me. And it’s certainly not enough to motivate me to invest in a new $1,299 phone. I really hope that next year will be different and we will see important hardware innovations from the manufacturer.