In a current interview, Samsung execs mentioned how the corporate’s design language has developed into what we now know because the Galaxy S26. Whereas it is perhaps true that Samsung has carved out its personal identification within the cell house via generations of refinement, that very same design can be on the coronary heart of a number of the most annoying-yet-fixable issues going through Galaxy {hardware}.
Feedback shared from Samsung SVP Lee Ji-young (through ChoSun) earlier this month mentioned how Ji-young would “give the [Galaxy S26] product design an ideal rating,” pointing to components such because the “optimum nook curvature” of 7R (the curve of a circle the place the radius is 7mm) and the way that’s seen even within the S Pen. In the meantime, Samsung VP and head of the cell design group, Lee Il-hwan, referred to as the vertically organized triple-camera the “the core identification of the Galaxy.”
I’ve been utilizing the bottom mannequin Galaxy S26 since Unpacked, and I’ll get my most elementary take out of the way in which upfront: it’s a stable, reliable cellphone. Coming from a yr’s price of time spent totally on Pixel, the lighter chassis and slimmer design have been one thing of a breath of recent air. Returning to my Pixel 10a makes Google’s newest $500 Android cellphone really feel as thick as a brick, even with no digicam bar, whereas the mainline Pixel 10 feels shockingly heavy any time I decide it up.
With the S26 sequence, Samsung lastly unified its design throughout the complete trio, shedding no matter Observe DNA remained within the Extremely mannequin for good. The consequence really extends outdoors of the corporate’s flagship sequence: except its foldables, virtually each current Galaxy-branded cellphone launched by Samsung retains the identical core design. Rounded corners, large-and-tall shows, and a triple-lens digicam system oriented to the left of its again glass. I can completely agree that this look makes up the “core identification” of Galaxy design — it simply additionally occurs to establish every little thing I don’t like about it.
A few of this, in fact, is a matter of subjective style. Personally, I choose my flagship units to characteristic a semi-unique look in comparison with their extra highly effective mainline entries. I don’t assume it’s a nasty factor to have the ability to instantly inform a $1,100 machine from one half its worth, one thing manufacturers like Google and Apple have successfully adopted with units just like the Pixel 10a and the iPhone 17e. Samsung takes the alternative method; the majority of its A-series entries are simple to mistake for one thing extra premium when shortly glanced at from the again. In concept, that cements Samsung’s design as each distinctive and iconic, however in contrast to Google’s digicam bar design, I’d argue this type is just too nameless to work.
It doesn’t assist that Samsung’s not alone in sporting this look. The final couple of base mannequin iPhones, for instance, swapped to a two-camera design that doesn’t look all too dissimilar from any random Galaxy machine launched this decade. Apple says it left behind its earlier diagonal structure to permit for Imaginative and prescient Professional-enabled video recording, however both approach, the consequence is identical: Samsung’s design abruptly seems all too much like its most bitter rival. And even when that has nothing to do with a choice Samsung explicitly made, the model nonetheless has to take care of somebody encroaching on its territory.
We’ve seen Google navigate this house just a little extra deftly. The corporate’s digicam bar appears ripe for inspiration nowadays: the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Professional, and even Samsung’s personal Galaxy S25 Edge all carry just a little little bit of Pixel DNA of their respective lens layouts. However Google’s type — launched 5 years in the past on the Pixel 6 earlier than seeing a number of generations price of refinement — stands up even within the face of comparable kinds as a result of it’s so distinctive. It’s not simply the lens structure, however the particular type of the digicam visor, the lens cowl, the matching two-tone design, and maybe most crucially, the whole lack of desk wobble.
And that’s the true downside with Samsung’s “core identification.” It’s not a lot that different firms have employed comparable designs, however that the go-to Galaxy look presents a basically flawed expertise in 2026. Whereas firms like Google have absolutely mounted points with digicam bumps forcing units to rock forwards and backwards on flat surfaces, Samsung’s machine are extra wobbly than ever. Rotating the lenses 90-degrees would successfully repair this, however that violates the corporate’s personal beliefs for a way its merchandise ought to work.
However nothing drives me crazier than how this impacts Qi2 assist. Loads of (digital) ink has been spilled over Samsung’s determination to as soon as once more decide towards together with built-in assist for Qi2 magnetic wi-fi charging, as an alternative counting on first and third-party circumstances so as to add that performance after the very fact. It’s irritating sufficient by itself — on not less than two events, I reached for Qi2-enabled equipment purely out of behavior whereas utilizing this machine earlier than remembering they received’t work with my case-less S26 — however even if you decide up a supported shell, it won’t work with each accent. Wallets, Pop Sockets, and sure charging pucks have all been identified to have points aligning correctly because of the bottom lenses on Samsung’s vertical digicam capsule, and good luck sustaining a constant 25W charging pace.
The tip result’s a design that, whereas actually identifiable, finally ends up leaving Galaxy S26 homeowners with a worse expertise than they may discover on different telephones, virtually requiring first-party equipment engineered round these shortcomings. I’m not saying Samsung can’t discover a recognizable appear and feel that works for his or her branding — and actually, I wouldn’t even thoughts them discovering a option to make one thing near its present type work — however to behave as if that is the end-all-be-all of what a smartphone might be feels extra dismissive of the longer term than I’d like. Options like Qi2 didn’t exist when Samsung initially started using this look, however that doesn’t imply the model ought to be given a cross after this technology.
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