00:00 – Mishaal Rahman: Samsung might be killing the Galaxy S26, well, at least the base model.
00:05 – C. Scott Brown: And Google may want you to ditch your MacBook for an Android PC, eventually.
00:09 – Mishaal Rahman: I’m Mishaal Rahman.
00:11 – C. Scott Brown: And I’m C. Scott Brown and this is the Authority Insights Podcast where we break down the latest news and leaks surrounding the Android operating system.
00:21 – Mishaal Rahman: Now, when I heard that Samsung was going to be shaking up its flagship Galaxy S lineup, I got a bit excited and also a little worried at the same time. I’m excited because I’ve always felt the base model’s always been a little underwhelming compared to the other devices. But I’m a little worried that they might be doing a price hike on us next year.
00:38 – C. Scott Brown: Yeah, if there is a price hike, I’m worried about how expensive it’s going to be to just have the tech basics in your life. If we’re already spending over a grand on a new phone that’s supposed to last us seven years, why do we need to shell out so much money for a separate PC?
00:55 – Mishaal Rahman: That’s a great point. I mean, I’ve always felt that we’re well past the point where phones have lacked the power that’s necessary to be your all-in-one device. I’ve been wanting to talk about these topics for a while and since our articles went live earlier this week on Android Authority, let’s just dive right in. So our first story comes from my colleagues, Adamya Sharma and Assemble Debug who wrote an exclusive that the Galaxy S26 series could represent a major shakeup in Samsung’s flagship device lineup. So, we’ve always had these three models in the Galaxy S series, since the S20 series actually. We had the base S20, the S20 Plus, and the S20 Ultra. We’ve had that since the S20, we had the S21, S22, 23, 24, 25, but the 26 might be having some differences. Can you tell us a bit about what they reported, Scott?
01:53 – C. Scott Brown: Well, first, we did get a slight curve ball this year with the Galaxy S25 Edge. So that was the first time that we had seen a phone within the Galaxy S lineup that we had never seen before. So the rumors were that Samsung was going to replace the plus model with the Edge. And we kind of thought that that wasn’t going to happen because the Edge hasn’t been doing that well critically and commercially. But this evidence that we found seems to suggest that it is going to do that. And so basically we went through the code of the latest one of the one of the latest One UI beta leaks. and yeah, we saw no mention of the plus but saw a mention of the Edge. So that was the first thing that was kind of like, well that’s interesting, why isn’t the plus in here? And then we also didn’t see a listing for the vanilla model. So the Galaxy S26 also made no appearance, but we did see a listing for a Galaxy S26 Pro, which we’ve never seen before. That’s a name that we’ve never associated with the Galaxy S line. So yeah, this was our first bit of evidence that made us sort of perk up and be like, wait a minute, like is Samsung just leaving these devices out for now or does this mean that we’re not getting those devices? And then we got more information, which you can talk about a bit.
03:24 – Mishaal Rahman: Yeah. So I mean like we instead of the base model, instead of the Plus, we found evidence that there’s a Pro, an Edge, and an Ultra. And you know, that’s a big deal because it represents something beyond potentially just a rebranding because you don’t just take a base device that’s without any monikers like a Plus or an Ultra or a Pro and then slap a Pro label onto it without making changes, right? I mean at least we’re assuming they’re adding the Pro moniker to the base model and actually adding some pro-level upgrades. Maybe we’ll get like a 5X telephoto in the base model or the new base model is what they’re going to be calling it, or maybe they’ll finally add ultra-wideband, which has been a notable omission in the base model for many generations now. I’ve always felt like the base model, it was always the more compact phone in the Galaxy S lineup, but it’s always lacked a couple of things that just kind of made it felt like the redheaded step child of the Galaxy S series. But now making it pro kind of signifies that they’ll actually make it a worthwhile pro-level device on par with the rest of the devices. But at the same time, what’s going to happen with the plus? The fact that the plus was basically just an upsized version of the base model with a couple of the ultra features. The fact that we’re no longer having a dedicated Plus model kind of suggests Samsung is going to be maybe expanding the base model size? Are we going to have a compact model anymore? Do you consider the Edge a compact model because the Edge does have a pretty big display even though it is much thinner and lighter. What do you think about that?
05:02 – C. Scott Brown: Yeah. When I first held the edge, I was absolutely astonished by how thin it was. Like, I think that’s the first thing that everyone says. They hold it in their hand and they say, wow, this is way thinner and way lighter than I ever expected. But it is not by any stretch of the imagination a compact phone. It is still just as wide and tall as the plus. In fact, I believe the screen size is exactly the same. I believe it’s literally the same exact screen. So, yeah, so I do not consider it a compact phone. For me, a compact phone has to be under 6.4 inches or preferably 6.3. That’s to me like a good Golock zone where it’s like, okay, this feels small, and it feels easy to use one-handed, but it doesn’t feel too small. It doesn’t feel minuscule like the iPhone Mini series that from a few years back that were like those were really small. But this I feel like that’s the nice zone. So, so yeah, I mean, if Samsung does release a Pro that is smaller than the Edge in both height and width, then yeah, I would consider that to possibly be a potential compact entry. What’ll be weird though, is without the plus model, I mean, I guess it’s possible that Samsung has a way to bring a telephoto lens to the edge, which the current S25 Edge does not have. If Samsung is able to bring a telephoto lens to the edge of the 26 Edge, and then also have a more compact version that has the same camera system, a 200 megapixel main, a pretty good ultra wide, and then a pretty good telephoto, then now we’re talking cohesive. Now it makes sense, you know? But if Samsung is going to have a pro model that’s a compact phone that has a telephoto and a primary camera that’s really good and all that stuff, and then an edge that’s more expensive that doesn’t have a telephoto. Now it’s just chaos. Like then I’ll just be like, how are you going to sell these phones? How are you going to convince somebody to spend $1,100 on a phone that doesn’t have a telephoto lens and then also sell them, you know, a sub $1,000 phone that does have one. It it’s I don’t know. So I’m really curious to see how Samsung’s going to pull this off. But, yeah, but one thing that I should note is that the plus model historically has always been the weakest seller. The Ultra is always been the best seller, selling by you know, outselling the other two by twice as much. And then the smaller model is usually in second and then the Plus is further behind in third. So if any model is going to go, it should be the Plus model, but what Samsung is going to put in its place is the real question here.
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