Samsung’s Polygon foldable proves it could design a far more exciting Galaxy S26

Wow, Samsung’s Polygon foldable concept is quite the head-turner, right? Lamborghini Countach meets Galaxy Z Flip clamshell is certainly a look I can get behind. If it was actually on sale, it’s cool enough that it might just tempt me to drop the practicalities of the classic glass slab for something far more stylish.

Whether you love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the Polygon is something different, at least. In today’s world of increasingly carbon-copy smartphone designs, it’s a breath of fresh air that shows that design innovation and intrigue are still possible. Sadly, no one, especially Samsung, seems willing to take such a risk on real commercial products.

Of course, this wouldn’t be the first really cool concept to come out of Samsung Display’s design team over the years. Samsung’s design lab has cranked out a parade of even wilder ideas — rollable phones, triple-folding booklets, and even recently a foldable Nintendo Switch clone. Some veer into science fiction, but the Polygon looks ready for shelves, which makes it all the more frustrating that we can’t actually buy it.

Compare this flare to retail smartphones, and it’s hard not to feel a huge disconnect between what is and what could be. Samsung’s Galaxy S series, for instance, has featured virtually the same design since the 2021 Galaxy S21. Besides some camera bar tweaks, it’s exceedingly difficult to tell the S23, S24, and S25 series apart at a glance. Who’s willing to bet next year’s Galaxy S26 will reprise the same tired role? Talk about wasted potential when there’s clearly so much more Samsung can do.

Samsung isn’t alone in this monotonous design cycle, of course. Apple’s iPhone is an even worse offender, desperately clinging to the success of 2019’s iPhone 11 redesign, like a tired sitcom that refuses to end. Even China’s latest and greatest have all pinched the same circle camera housing from one another. Perhaps there’s a factory producing chassis on the cheap? No matter where you glance, today’s phones don’t just look the same — they feel frozen in time.

Worse, we’re well into the age when internal hardware barely moves the needle either. A phone from two years ago still takes brilliant photos, offers speedy data, and runs virtually as well as any of today’s latest flagships, aside from some more extreme use cases. With even mid-range phones providing five to seven years of software support that keeps them fresh with new features, it feels increasingly pointless for manufacturers to keep producing essentially the same phones year in, year out. “Don’t fix what isn’t broken” is all well and good, but it’s become a crutch for stagnation.

Taking a greater risk on the design front could be the golden ticket to better defining new generations and recapturing interest in increasingly stale product lines. Even if the internal hardware remains mostly the same, a fresh new look would give consumers new reasons to upgrade, or at the very least, keep fans interested in what’s coming next.

For Samsung in particular, it has the unique benefit of being a conglomerate that spans the core technologies that define how a smartphone looks and feels. Between the processor, camera, and display components, its various companies design and manufacture the key ingredients and could, nay should, work closer together to build more unique and interesting end products. If there’s one brand that could spin smartphone design on its head, it’s Samsung, and taking the brains behind its intriguing concepts and putting them to work on future Galaxy S and Z models would be a great place to start.

The Polygon foldable proves Samsung still has plenty of design imagination. Now it just needs the nerve to bring that same boldness to store shelves, not just show floors.