The S26 sits a full step below the S26 Ultra in terms of camera hardware and features. It’s still one of the finest phones you can buy for photography, but it (and the S26+) lack the raw megapixel power of the Ultra model. Even so, nearly everyone should be happy with the results.
(Credit: Eric Zeman)
The S26 (and S26+) has a 50MP main camera, a 12MP ultrawide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera. Each S26 phone has the same front-facing camera: a 12MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. All three can record video at up to 8K30. The S26 Ultra has a different set of sensors. It packs a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultrawide, a 50MP 5x zoom telephoto camera, and a 3x 10MP telephoto. Samsung made the main cameras brighter across the board, which helps with low-light photography.
Main camera, 2x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Main camera, 2x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
For a full run-down of the S26 camera features, see our review of the S26 Ultra. All three phones share the same software and feature list, even if they don’t share the same number of megapixels.
Ultrawide camera, 0.6x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Ultrawide camera, 0.6x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Even though the S26 has one-quarter the pixels of the S26 Ultra, it still takes 12MP final photos. In comparison, they have the same exposure results and coloring, both of which are more natural than older Galaxy S phones, but I saw more grain and softer focus from the S26.
Telephoto camera, 3x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
The S26 zooms out to a max of 30x, which is far less than the Ultra’s 100x, but the 30x results are just as bad as the Ultra’s 100x results. That’s to say, they look like watercolor paintings.
Telephoto,10x (Credit; Eric Zeman)
Telephoto, 30x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Main camera, 2x (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Even the selfie camera inherits some of the foibles I saw on the S26 Ultra, which means softer focus from time to time.
Front camera, selfie (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Front camera, portrait (Credit: Eric Zeman)
I have no complaints about the video-capture powers. With the same resolution, frame rate, and feature options as the costlier Ultra, the S26 does really well when you’re ready to record.
