As a Pixel fan, the Galaxy S26 needs these 5 things before I’d buy it

As a Pixel fan who’s been happily using a Pixel 10 Pro since August, I’m not particularly intrigued by what we’ve heard so far about the Samsung Galaxy S26 series. In typical Samsung fashion, it sounds like this year’s phones will be another round of iterative updates without any game-changing new features. Shocker, I know.

Still, there’s always the chance that Samsung has a surprise or two up its sleeve. And with enough of them, the company could very well tempt me away from my Pixel.

Will that happen? Almost certainly not. But if it does, there are five things that would get me to switch from my Pixel to a shiny new Galaxy S26 when it likely launches next month.

The first item on my list — and one that’s likely to happen — is built-in Qi2 magnetic charging. I’ve been obsessed with Qi2 since getting the Pixel 10 Pro last year. I have a magnetic charging dock on the nightstand in my bedroom, a magnetic wallet I carry all of my cards in, and multiple Qi2 battery packs.

I know some people don’t understand the obsession with built-in magnets when you can add them to almost any phone with a case, but as someone who rarely uses a case, this is a big deal. The Pixel 10 Pro has absolutely spoiled me in this regard, and the good news is that the entire Galaxy S26 series is on track to feature built-in Qi2 magnets as well.

Another feature that would tempt me away from the Pixel 10 Pro is fast wired charging. As much as I enjoy using my Pixel, its 30W wired charging speed is annoying. It’s fine when I plug the phone in overnight or if I’m not in a rush to top up the battery, but it’s absolutely not conducive to charging a large percentage of the battery in a short amount of time.

In a world where 60W, 80W, and even faster charging exist, being stuck with 30W on the Pixel 10 Pro is one of the phone’s biggest downsides.

This is another aspect where the Galaxy S26 might deliver, just not as much as I would like. One of the latest rumors claims the baseline S26 will support up to 45W wired charging, up from 25W on the S25 and other previous models. That’s great to see, but if I’m switching from a Pixel to a Samsung phone, I’d want truly transformative charging, not just a minor upgrade.

One of my favorite features of the Pixel 10 Pro (besides the built-in magnets) has been its camera — specifically, the telephoto sensor. The 5x optical zoom lens has been so much fun to shoot with. 5x and 10x shots are so easy to pull off and look excellent, while Google’s ProRes Zoom feature enables 50x and even 100x shots that are surprisingly decent.

I know Samsung has offered impressive telephoto zooming on its phones for a while now, but this is always reserved for the Ultra — a phone I find extremely uncomfortable to use. Having this amount of zoom range in a phone as compact as the Pixel 10 Pro is incredible, and if the regular Galaxy S26 got the same camera zoom we expect on the S26 Ultra, that would get my attention.

Unfortunately, that’s almost certainly not going to happen. Reports suggest the S26 will have the same camera setup as the S25, including a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x zoom and up to 30x maximum zoom. In other words, not at all on the same level as the Pixel.

When Google launched the Pixel 8 series in 2023, one of its standout features was secure face unlock. Using a regular front-facing camera and no additional biometric hardware, the phones’ face unlock feature was secure enough not only to bypass the lock screen but also to unlock sensitive apps and approve Google Wallet purchases.

The feature is still available today on the Pixel 10 series, and while it doesn’t get talked about much, it’s far and away one of my favorite things about modern Pixel phones. The Pixel 10 Pro’s fingerprint sensor is great, but I rarely have to use it because face unlock is that good. When I open my banking or credit card app, my face is scanned immediately, and I’m on my way; it’s wonderful.

No other Android phone has replicated this type of face unlock using only the front-facing camera, but if the Galaxy S26 somehow shipped with it, that would certainly put it on my radar in a way it’s not currently. It’s unlikely to happen, but if it does, Samsung would be that much closer to having my money.

My final request is perhaps the least realistic, but if Samsung really wants to convert this Pixel user to the Galaxy S26, this is the last thing that would need to happen.

I know Samsung’s One UI software has its fans, but I’ve never been particularly fond of it — especially the latest One UI 8.5 beta, which is riddled with one too many iOS inspirations. Meanwhile, Google’s Material 3 Expressive UI for Android 16 is one of the best Android skins I’ve ever used; it’s whimsical, responsive, and is still somehow neat and tidy in a way that One UI has never felt.

Samsung isn’t about to throw out its own software design in favor of Google’s … but if it did? Well, I would have to seriously consider making the Galaxy S26 my next Android phone.

To reiterate, I don’t expect the Galaxy S26 to ship with all of these things when it’s announced later next month. Still, it’s fun to think about what could be — and to give Samsung a few hints about how it could steal at least one Pixel fan with future releases.

If you’re a Pixel user, would any of these features convince you to switch to the Galaxy S26? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments.