GoKawiilSamsung’s flagship trio for 2026 landed looking exactly like its predecessors — and ancestors. The only major spruce-up happened with the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which now looks like part of the family, with many big upgrades reserved just for it. The base Galaxy S26, on the other hand, got the usual minor spec bump.
And then, suffering from middle-child syndrome, is the Galaxy S26 Plus. It’s struggling with an identity crisis so acute that it now feels redundant, and most people are better off ignoring the $1,100 smartphone while deciding which model to buy. That won’t change unless Samsung decides to act on the past rumors of ditching the Plus in favor of an all-new Pro tier.
While we didn’t get a Galaxy S26 Pro this year, it feels like high time for Samsung to reshuffle its flagship lineup to make each upgrade tier more sensible.
What should Samsung do with the Galaxy S Plus model? 123 votes Replace it with a Galaxy S Pro 35 % Keep it but improve the hardware 33 % Merge it with the base model 16 % Scrap it completely 16 %
Pro camera
Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority
Samsung is one of the few smartphone makers to offer three cameras across the board, including on the cheapest model. Google just followed its lead with the base Pixel 10 last year. However, a big compromise with these phones has been the use of inferior cameras and lenses to fit tight price brackets. While that’s understandable for the base model, the Galaxy S26 Plus feels much more restricted, sitting in an awkward spot.
While the Ultra gets an ultra-level quad-camera setup, the Plus is stuck with lower-resolution ultrawide and telephoto lenses, the same as the base model. That’s a worrying scenario because its direct competitors — the iPhone 17 Pro and the Pixel 10 Pro — come with upwards of 48MP ultrawide and telephoto cameras, offering sharper images that you can easily zoom into in post without them pixelating.
The Ultra has those too, flaunting a 200MP + 50MP + 50MP + 10MP setup. So even if Samsung ditched the fourth telephoto and brought the rest of those cameras to a Pro model, it would do much more service to this unneeded middle child.
Pro processor
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