To make the Galaxy S26 a must-buy, Samsung needs to do these 3 things

I purchased the Samsung Galaxy S25 soon after it hit the shelves, hoping to get a standout experience. It delivered, for the most part, especially with its palm-friendly form factor, while also serving oodles of compromises. Slow charging, unexciting camera hardware, and monotonous design killed the phone’s appeal quickly for me. 

Next, I pushed the Galaxy S25 Ultra. And once again, the conclusion was not too different. Despite a pleasing experience, the asking price doesn’t justify what the device has to offer, especially if you’ve tried the iPhone 17 Pro or the Pixel 10 Pro XL. For someone who has also tried Chinese heavy-hitters such as the Oppo Find X8 Ultra, Samsung’s flagship just didn’t offer enough. 

All eyes are on Samsung once again, as the company preps to launch the Galaxy S26 series in the coming months. So far, leaks and speculations have painted a rather divisive picture of what the upcoming phones will bring to the table. I am excited, too, but I’ll only pick one if Samsung delivers a few crucial upgrades across the board.

Let users own the software experience 

Samsung’s Labs tools and the GoodLock module have been a hot favorite in the power user community for years. The company has also been at the forefront of deeply integrating AI across a variety of access points, from calling and translation to creating a personalized activity rundown called Now Brief each day. 

But the competition caught up pretty soon, and even surpassed the One UI 8 experience in a lot of meaningful ways. Mind Space on OnePlus’ Oxygen OS 16 in one such implementation. Perplexity’s Comet browser is an example of how an AI agent can be deployed to ease discovery on the web. 

Imagine an AI assistant that lives natively, works fully offline, and lets you talk about files stored on the device. Being able to discover buried files by describing their content using natural language prompts sounds pretty convenient. It would be amazing if Samsung creates pathways where Gemini can interact with system apps so that users can get work done without having to directly interact with those apps. 

Gemini can already handle that with third-party apps such as Spotify and WhatsApp. OnePlus’ Mind Space is also now integrated with Google’s AI chatbot. Samsung can, and should, enable such AI-powered convenience in a way that preserves user privacy, as well. Samsung could also build a system that leverages the onboard Gemini Nano processing to create shortcuts and automations using AI prompts.  

The most promising approach would be a system that lets users create mini apps using a built-in AI-powered app builder. Nothing has already paved the way forward with its Nothing Playground, where users can create and share apps that were cooked up on their phone without writing a single line of code. Google also offers a similar tool called Opal that lets users make mini apps by simply describing them. 

There are lots of ways Samsung can enhance the software experience on the Galaxy S26 series. These phones will definitely offer the kind of firepower to offer such AI-powered facilities. Samsung just has to take the leap and lean into the promise of an agentic experience under its Galaxy AI umbrella. 

A reimagined camera experience 

For years, it looked as if Google’s Pixels and iPhones wouldn’t abandon the cause of well-tuned 12MP cameras, levelled up by some serious computational photography chops. Samsung, on the other hand, climbed higher with 48MP, 108MP, and even 200MP camera sensors. At the same time, Samsung was also playing the optical zoom game far better than its big-name peers. 

But over the past few years, hardware-level progress has stagnated. The competition has moved to much bigger 1-inch sensors that deliver smashing results. Google, Apple, and OnePlus have adopted an all-big-sensor approach that offers exclusive tricks of their own. 

Google’s Pro Res Zoom, in particular, shook me. The portraits by Oppo and Vivo flagships are truly a league apart. Samsung, on the other hand, has failed to deliver the wow factor in the past few years. It’s pretty odd because Samsung experimented with advanced tech like variable aperture all the way back with the Galaxy S9 series. 

On the Galaxy S26 Ultra, we are already hearing rumors of variable apertures’ comeback. I am hoping Samsung finally goes with a bigger sensor, at least on the main camera. And while at it, switch to an all-big-sensor approach for the ultrawide and zoom cameras. Additionally, I’d love to see Samsung experiment with its own camera partnerships — like Hasselblad on OnePlus and Leica on Xiaomi — that can deliver some special shooting mode and custom tuning to produce unique shots. 

Samsung already has a fantastic filter system in place, and it even lets you create custom filters based on the color chemistry of any given photo. The company must lean heavier into this side and let users play with more artistic tools if it can’t quite surpass its rivals from the US and China in terms of sheer imaging excellence. 

Make a true performance leap 

Samsung needs to step up its game this year. Or to put it more accurately, milk the premium it is paying for the Qualcomm silicon. Over the past few years, Samsung has equipped its flagship phones with custom “Snapdragon for Galaxy” processors by Qualcomm. These chips are clocked slightly higher than the vanilla variant you will find fitted inside other Android phones. 

Interestingly, the “for Galaxy” flavor of Snapdragon chips doesn’t necessarily perform better. In fact, it scores lower on benchmarks compared to rival Android phones with the standard flavor of Qualcomm’s mobile processor. The gulf is pretty small, but that’s not the real issue here. 

Samsung must go beyond these pricey stunts and let users unlock the true potential of the silicon. And to do so, it doesn’t even have to look at gaming phones. Even a mainstream device like the OnePlus 15 will suffice. 

When I pushed the OnePlus flagship, I was surprised by just how well OnePlus has optimized the performance and stability using a fresh resource allocation approach and custom chips. Samsung needs to accomplish something similar in order to offer users enough flexibility to tap into the raw silicon firepower for the best gaming experience, as well. 

Samsung must also pay close attention to the thermal hardware. While the Ultra model has usually packed a larger vapor chamber cooling system, the entry and mid-tier members of the flagship portfolio have been stuck with inferior heat management. The result is a chassis that runs hot under stress, has poor sustained performance, and loads of throttling. 

Samsung phones have fared pretty badly at these metrics, and I am dearly hoping that Samsung finally pays attention to this aspect. I would take a phone that is a millimeter thicker than its predecessor if it assures me that the cooling system is better, and it can hold its own under load. 

So far, leaks have painted a pretty modest picture of the Galaxy S26 series phones in terms of hardware-level upgrades. And at this point, all the pieces have been locked in place. But software-based optimizations can still elevate the experience to a meaningful extent. We’ll know more in the coming weeks as Samsung officially showcases its next flagship phone portfolio.