Galaxy S26 Extremely vs Galaxy S23 Extremely: Here is why I am upgrading

Samsung’s Galaxy S collection has undergone solely minimal modifications with every era in recent times. However for those who stack all these minor upgrades over a number of years, a three-year-old Galaxy S would seem like a completely completely different cellphone. The Galaxy S23 Extremely, for example, feels prefer it’s solely distantly associated to the freshly launched Galaxy S26 Extremely, a worthy contender for the highest spot among the many finest Android telephones for 2026.

The Galaxy S23 Extremely was, in some ways, a worthy improve to older telephones within the collection. It introduced a 200MP digicam with an improved digicam algorithm, addressed the Galaxy S22 Extremely’s heating points, and featured a far much less mistouch-prone curved show. Nevertheless, it’s now reaching its closing phases of life, having already obtained three out of the 4 promised Android era upgrades. The {hardware} might need additionally began to indicate indicators of age, particularly with Samsung’s rising emphasis on on-device AI functions.

So, for those who’re trying to transfer on, the Galaxy S26 Extremely makes good sense. On this article, I’ll take you thru all of the the explanation why it’s best to take into account upgrading to it out of your trusty Galaxy S23 Extremely. Word that whereas now we have but to evaluation the Galaxy S26 Extremely, the observations beneath are primarily based on our restricted hands-on time with the machine and on our expertise with previous Extremely telephones.

One of the crucial thrilling and extremely marketed options of the Galaxy S26 Extremely is the brand new Privateness Show. It’s designed to forestall shoulder surfers from seeing delicate data in your display. However not like a privacy-centric display protector that’s utilized over the display, the privateness options are baked into the Galaxy S26 Extremely’s show.

You may activate Privateness Show with a software program change and use it to selectively limit elements of the show. For example, you should utilize Privateness Show to make sure sure apps, or their notifications, stay hidden from onlookers. Early leaks have additionally revealed the science behind this fascinating characteristic.

Moreover the privateness enhancement, the Galaxy S26 Extremely’s show additionally will get a coloration improve. With this era, Samsung is lastly transferring to 10-bit shows, enabling a wider coloration gamut. With this improve, colours ought to seem punchier when in comparison with the Galaxy S23 Extremely on the aspect.

Whereas I anticipate that wider coloration help will make a distinction when watching movies or enjoying video games with vibrant visuals, I additionally hope the improve will lastly resolve a long-standing subject of “banding” on Samsung’s AMOLED shows. Banding is when rectangular artifacts seem on the display whereas displaying a coloration gradient.

Moreover these enhancements, the Galaxy S26 Extremely’s show is totally flat, in case you need a change from the Galaxy S23 Extremely’s curved edge. Moreover, the newer show achieves a a lot increased peak brightness of three,000 nits, in comparison with simply 1,750 nits on the Galaxy S23 Extremely.

One UI 8.5 brings massive upgrades

With the Galaxy S26, Samsung is shifting to the brand new One UI 8.5 interface. Whereas it’s nonetheless primarily based on Android 16, identical to One UI 8, One UI 8.5 brings a considerable improve.

However there’s much more Samsung has introduced with the Galaxy S26 collection. For yet one more yr, AI takes heart stage in Samsung’s announcement, with a number of new additions and enhancements to present Galaxy AI options.

The brand new interface brings a slew of options to edit media on the go. These embrace Picture Help, which helps you to edit photographs utilizing textual content prompts, identical to Google Pictures’ Assist Me Edit, and AI-enhanced doc scanning that removes arms and unpleasant corners. In the meantime, Inventive Studio permits you to create sticker cutouts out of your photographs and make them simply accessible by way of the Samsung Keyboard.

Moreover, Samsung’s Now Bar and Now Transient are lastly gaining helpful methods, comparable to remembering key occasions for you even when they’re not in your calendar. These are being accompanied by one other characteristic, referred to as Now Nudge, which works equally to Pixel’s Magic Cue and suggests responses to queries by robotically fetching data from different apps.

Moreover these new options, One UI 8.5 brings a brand new search interface that’s accessible by way of a shortcut proper above the pinned apps on your private home display, considerably just like the iPhone’s finder, which helps you to carry out a deep system-level search together with an enhanced Circle to Search that may now seek for a number of objects directly. An identical search characteristic additionally permits you to discover particular screenshots contained in the Gallery app.

Whereas the Galaxy S23 Extremely may also finally obtain One UI 8.5, it will likely be months behind the Galaxy S26 Extremely. Moreover, it stays to be seen which of those new options come to older gadgets and which of them keep restricted to the brand new ones.

The digicam’s obtained some good bits too

Of late, Samsung has been criticised a lot for minimal upgrades to its flagship cameras. In the event you take the first 200MP into consideration solely, you’d most likely take the identical stance. However, in comparison with the Galaxy S23 Extremely, there are some affordable upgrades throughout different cameras.

When Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 Extremely, it switched from a 10MP 10x telephoto to a 50MP one however with a shorter 5x optical zoom. This resolution, as we additionally examined again then, allowed the telephones to seize richer particulars on photographs, particularly pictures between 3x and 10x zoom, with some trade-offs at increased ranges.

Over time, Samsung has made efforts to plug these gaps by way of software program optimization, AI, and higher {hardware} that enables extra mild to achieve the sensor.

Whereas the Galaxy S26 Extremely makes use of the identical 5x telephoto setup because the Galaxy S24 Extremely, it’s now paired with a wider f/2.9 aperture lens in comparison with the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s f/3.4 aperture.

In the meantime, the first digicam’s lens has additionally been upgraded to a a lot wider f/1.4 aperture, and Samsung claims it ends in 47% extra mild. Along with permitting sharper pictures through the day, the broader aperture additionally helps considerably with extra mild for night time images.

Moreover, Samsung claims enhancements to video efficiency, together with higher stabilization and AI-enhanced framing for 4K movies (by cropping into the 8K sensor), and we’ll take a look at these out over the following few weeks.

One clear benefit the Galaxy S26 Extremely has over the Galaxy S23 Extremely is efficiency. Not like the bottom and Plus variants, which include Exynos 2600 in sure markets, the newest Extremely packs a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 globally, marking a three-generation leap in chipset efficiency. Along with a extra environment friendly 3nm structure, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 additionally options Qualcomm’s customized Oryon massive and center cores and considerably increased clock speeds throughout all of them.

As we’ve famous whereas testing different gadgets operating the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the quantity of uncooked energy it affords might be overkill. Notably, all that energy has additionally raised issues about heating, which Samsung claims to deal with by reconfiguring the warmth sink for higher thermal dissipation. As soon as once more, we’ll take a look at the effectiveness of those options over the approaching days.

Samsung lastly upgrades charging

For a number of generations now, Samsung’s Extremely telephones have been caught at 45W wired charging, and the Galaxy S23 Extremely was no exception. Nevertheless, with the Galaxy S26 Extremely, Samsung is lastly stepping up by enabling 60W wired charging.

The brand new protocol, referred to as Samsung Quick Charging 3.0, is predicted to depend on USB PD 3.1 and PPS, and it expenses the Galaxy S26 Extremely from 0 to 75% in simply half-hour. Whereas now we have but to check the real-world affect of the sooner charging pace, we anticipate the improve to be particularly useful when your cellphone is low on battery and desires a fast increase.

Along with sooner wired charging, the Galaxy S26 Extremely additionally brings sooner wi-fi charging at 25W, a step up from the 15W on the Galaxy S23 Extremely.

Sadly, for those who, like me, had been hoping for magnets contained in the physique, the Galaxy S26 Extremely will disappoint you. It lacks built-in magnets for latching onto chargers or supporting magnetic equipment, and Samsung as a substitute affords an array of magnetic circumstances instead.

Whereas preferences for aesthetics could also be subjective, Samsung has been working over the previous generations to chisel away additional bulk from its Extremely flagships. Consequently, the Galaxy S26 Extremely now weighs solely 215 grams, about 20 grams lower than the Galaxy S23 Extremely. And the distinction is straight away perceivable.

In Samsung’s phrases, the Galaxy S26 Extremely can also be the “slimmest Extremely” it has launched thus far. It measures solely 7.9mm, which can seem to be a small change from the Galaxy S25 Extremely’s 8.2mm-thick chassis, however it’s a entire millimeter slimmer than the Galaxy S23 Extremely.

With the Galaxy S26 Extremely, Samsung can also be eliminating the design facet I dislike probably the most: its sharp corners. The Galaxy S26 Extremely now options curved corners, lowering the biting results of earlier Extremely telephones over extended use. With these modifications, I anticipate the Galaxy S26 Extremely to really feel far simpler to grip and use over longer intervals.

The protecting glass on the Galaxy S26 Extremely’s entrance is upgraded, too, with Gorilla Glass Armor 2. On the again, you’ll discover Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which, curiously, was used to guard the show on the Galaxy S23 Extremely. That ought to inform you concerning the upgrades on that entrance.

Samsung jacked the costs for the Galaxy S collection with the S24 two years in the past. On the time of its launch, the Galaxy S24 Extremely value $1,299 for the bottom 256GB storage variant, a $100 enhance over the Galaxy S23 Extremely.

Fortunately, costs within the US have remained steady since then. Regardless of headwinds and a part provide crunch, the Galaxy S26 Extremely nonetheless begins at $1,299 within the US. Samsung has supplied free storage upgrades to those that pre-order flagships up to now years, and we anticipate the identical this yr as properly.

With the Galaxy S26 Extremely, you get an enormous improve in show, privateness options, a extra ergonomic design, sooner charging, and considerably higher efficiency than the Galaxy S23 Extremely. Along with the {hardware} enhancements, the Galaxy S26 Extremely can also be the primary to get new software program options with One UI 8.5.

All these upgrades stacked collectively make the Galaxy S26 Extremely a straightforward alternative for those who’re trying to improve out of your Galaxy S23 Extremely. In the event you do, it’s also possible to commerce within the Galaxy S23 Extremely at Samsung for the perfect worth.