C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android introduced a powerful Linux terminal for developers last year.
- Initially supporting Pixel phones, we’ve been curious what kind of terminal support the Galaxy S26 family might receive.
- Linux terminal support appears to work only on the Exynos-powered Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus.
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Samsung just went official with its Galaxy S26 lineup last week, and as expected, this year the company returned to offering the phones in two main configurations: Qualcomm Snapdragon chips in the US, and Samsung Exynos chips in most international markets. At least, that’s the case for the two smaller S26 handsets, while the S26 Ultra is set to use a Snapdragon chip wherever you find it.
But what does that mean for Linux terminal support? Well, despite what we saw earlier that made it seem like the S26 Ultra could work with it, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 that powers the phone is a chip that doesn’t support non-protected virtual machines — and that just happens to be a requirement for Android’s Linux terminal. And sure enough, information shared with Android Authority by a tipster appears to confirm that the Linux terminal is only working on Exynos-based Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus hardware. (Thanks: Dylan H)
The screen above is supposed to be from an S26 Plus. Trying to access the terminal from an S26 Ultra with its Qualcomm chip, meanwhile, only results in the expected error message:
Honestly, none of this should really be that surprising, and it was probably premature to get our hopes up about that S26U log-file find before sorting out our expectations around Qualcomm- and Exynos-based S26 handsets.
That said, this could still be good news for a lot of new Galaxy S26 owners, especially since you don’t have to drop full price on the top-of-the-line Ultra to try out the Linux terminal on the Exynos versions of the S26 and S26 Plus.
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