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 would take its phones to the next level. But in the past few years, that enthusiasm has faded and eventually turned into skepticism.

with the launch Galaxy S26 seriesI feel particularly weak. I’ve come to the conclusion that the company needs to make some serious changes to its lineup in order to regain my interest in its flagships.

Samsung’s flagships seriously lag behind the competition when it comes to battery capacity. Much of this is due to the company’s reluctance to accept silicon-carbon batteriesthis would allow higher energy density.

The S26 Ultra it still comes with a 5,000mAh battery – the same capacity since the S20 Ultra. To put that in perspective, this means that Samsung hasn’t increased the battery size since launching the Ultra tier of its Galaxy S devices.

As for the standard S26 and S26 Plus, Samsung has increased the battery capacity over time. But even this progress is minimal. I’m surprised that the battery only increased by 200mAh from the S23 Plus to the S26 Plus.

I don’t think Samsung would hesitate to use silicon-carbon batteries, although it has been rumored. investigation of larger Si-C cells. The Pixel 10afor example, it has a 5,100mAh battery and is $400 cheaper than the standard S26, which has a 4,300mAh battery. If Samsung needs to make their phones a bit thicker, that’s what I’m willing to do.

There was a time when Samsung’s flagship range was well-balanced in terms of features. Over the past few years, though, the focus has definitely shifted. While AI and software have made headlines in recent releases, whenever hardware is mentioned, the focus is usually on the Ultra. The standard and Plus versions of the Galaxy S phones are little more than a note.

looking at S26 and S23 series shows how little devices have changed over three years. Both the S26 and S26 Plus have the same charging speed as their S23 counterparts. As for the camera parameters, there has been no change in the resolution of the lenses or the optical zoom. I find myself overwhelmed S26 Ultra there are camera updates but at least i can say its camera is getting updates.

As a result, upper-midrange competitors often outshine the S26 and S26 Plus on multiple fronts, particularly battery size and charging speed. Last year Phone 3a Pro nothing It retails for $459.99, making it cheaper than the standard S26. It does, however, include a 5000mAh battery, 50W wired charging, a 50MP periscope camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP front-facing camera. I have used it Honor 400 Pro for the past few months and despite not being a flagship, it also has a 50MP telephoto lens. At the same time, there is a 6000 mAh battery and 100 W wireless charging.

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

Although this was not always the case. The standard Galaxy S was a capable flagship for people who wanted a big experience in a smaller package. It was still decidedly premium but offered value for money. The Plus gave you a slight boost in battery capacity, memory and screen size. The Ultra was an ultra-premium option for people who really needed a great camera and more battery and processing power.

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

I’ve never forgiven Samsung for removing the 10x optical zoom from the Ultra rear camera. I never get the results I want when cropping to get “optical quality” zoom (which is actually a sensor product) compared to actual optical zoom at long range. This “optical quality” marketing has also appeared for other lenses on devices. Its 200-megapixel wide lens on the S26 Ultra also has 2x optical quality zoom. The 50MP wide-angle lens for the S26 and S26 Plus also requires 2x optical zoom.

I would have preferred actual optical zoom as well as a wider range between lenses. For the successors of the S26 and S26 Plus, the 5x optical zoom can really enhance the user experience. In the meantime, I’d like to see 10x optical zoom return to the next Ultra, while still maintaining good resolution.

But this is really the minimum. Samsung 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 be a leader on the camera front.

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

The battery capacity of the S26 series isn’t the only thing left of the past – so is its charging speed.

The only device in the series to boost charging speed is the S26 Ultra, which currently supports 60W charging. While this is an improvement on paper, it is long overdue. It’s so late that it still lags behind the competition.

Samsung smartphones use the USB PD PPS protocol, but other devices using the same protocol already exceed the charging speed of the S26 Ultra. This is a prime example Xiaomi 17 UltraSupports 90W PD PPS charging.

This leaves a lot of room for improvement for Samsung devices. The standard S26 in particular is stuck with 25W charging, which makes for incredibly slow charging times for a flagship device in 2026.

Since the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung’s flagship offerings have focused on artificial intelligence. When generative AI was still relatively new, it was interesting to try different features. However, it soon became clear that many did not significantly improve the user experience.

The S25 and S26 presentations leaned more towards artificial intelligence. This includes promoting Google features that come first on Galaxy devices or at the same time as Pixel devices from time to time. But this partnership with Google isn’t exclusive, so the tools end up on other Android phones as well. Just look Circular to searchfirst launched on Galaxy and Pixel phones, but now almost everywhere. Likewise, the Search feature in Circle to Search will first come to the Galaxy S26 series and Pixel 10 smartphones, but will roll out to other Android devices as well.

For features specific to Samsung devices, you are required to rely on Samsung’s ecosystem. But if you already have preferred apps for your web browsing and reminders, you may not see the appeal of switching to Samsung’s exclusive apps just for a few AI features.

The newer focus on agent AI also doesn’t appeal to me because I’m concerned about potential privacy issues. I don’t think Samsung makes enough guarantees that data will stay safe when using these AI tools.

Don’t get me wrong, I want to be excited about Samsung’s flagship phones. They are the largest Android brand by market share. But I don’t think they are leaders in this best android phones already.

while S26 Ultra’s Privacy Screen elegant, it doesn’t seem innovative to me. And that’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 significant technical innovations from the manufacturer.