{"id":237567,"date":"2026-01-17T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/237567\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T06:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:00:12","slug":"the-s25-is-the-smart-buy-of-early-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/237567\/","title":{"rendered":"The S25 is the smart buy of early 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samsung is gearing up for the launch of the Galaxy S26 series on February 25, but expectations for the phones are quite low this year. It doesn\u2019t look like much will change in both the base Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus compared to their predecessors \u2014 at least not enough to justify an upgrade. These will be the worst phones of 2026<\/a> on an expectation-to-reality scale; we all expect Samsung to do better.<\/p>\n

The lack of significant upgrades also makes waiting for the regular Galaxy S26 a huge waste of time, in my opinion. If you\u2019re in the market for a new phone, now\u2019s a good time to grab a Galaxy S25, not an S26. Here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Are you waiting for the Galaxy S26 or have you bought a Galaxy S25 already?<\/p>\n

126 votes<\/p>\n

I want the Galaxy S26, so I’m waiting.<\/p>\n

12%<\/p>\n

I’m not sure yet, so I’m waiting for the S26 to decide.<\/p>\n

34%<\/p>\n

I already bought a Galaxy S25.<\/p>\n

31%<\/p>\n

I’m not in the market for a new phone.<\/p>\n

23%<\/p>\n

The Galaxy S26 won\u2019t be a big upgrade, so why wait?<\/p>\n

\"Galaxy<\/p>\n

Everything we\u2019ve heard about the upcoming Galaxy S26<\/a> so far doesn\u2019t sound too encouraging. Or ground-breaking. Like in previous years, Samsung is concentrating the bulk of its planned upgrades on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, treating the base Galaxy S26 and larger S26 Plus as afterthoughts. This seems to be more so the case in 2026 than in any previous year because these two phones weren\u2019t in Samsung\u2019s original plans. The company had planned on overhauling its S series with a Galaxy S26 Pro<\/a> and an Edge model, then pivoted almost last minute to reinstate the regular S26 and S26 Plus. The reason? It\u2019s speculated to be financial pressure to meet Apple\u2019s iPhone 17 pricing.<\/p>\n

So, for the fourth year in a row, there are zero planned camera upgrades for the Galaxy S26 and S26 Plus. No upgrade to the 12GB of RAM, especially in the current state of worldwide RAM shortage. Also, the display won\u2019t be brighter or have a faster refresh rate.<\/p>\n

The Galaxy S26 won’t be a bad phone, but it’s not a phone worth waiting for.<\/p>\n

The real upgrades can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The Galaxy S26 series will obviously get a pimped version of the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5<\/a>, and we\u2019re still questioning if Samsung will be able to handle the processor\u2019s overheating tendencies to sustain performance across complex tasks. The regular Galaxy S26 is said to get a slightly larger battery \u2014 but none of that 6,000mAh+ battery magic from OnePlus \u2014 and a minimally larger display, but everything else is likely to stay the same. There are conflicting rumors around charging speeds, with some reports saying it\u2019ll remain at a dead-slow 25W and others suggesting an upgrade to 45W<\/a>. As for built-in Qi2, leaks suggest Samsung is pushing for more Qi2 accessories<\/a>, which would indicate the inclusion of magnets, but nothing is sure yet.<\/p>\n

And\u2026 That\u2019s it. I suppose we\u2019ll get some flashy new Galaxy AI features that everyone will forget about in a few weeks. None of this makes the Galaxy S26 a bad phone, but neither does it make it worth waiting for.<\/p>\n

Get a Galaxy S25\u2026 or something else<\/p>\n

\"Pixel<\/p>\n

Zac Kew-Denniss \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in the market for a new phone, you have more interesting choices today than waiting for a barely-upgraded Galaxy S26 or S26 Plus. If you\u2019re adamant on buying a Galaxy phone and you love Samsung\u2019s One UI, there are only three valid reasons to wait for February 25: a) your carrier plan allows a free upgrade to the S26, b) you really need faster charging in your everyday life and want to see if the 45W charging rumor pans out, or c) you expect the Galaxy S25\u2019s price to drop further when the S26 launches, making it a better deal than now.<\/p>\n

Aside from these, there\u2019s no need to wait. Last year\u2019s small Galaxy S25 offers nearly the same features and can already be bought at a discounted price. It\u2019s currently $650 on Amazon, but it often drops to $600 or lower. That\u2019s $200 less than what the Galaxy S26 is expected to launch at (if there are no price hikes in the US<\/a>). You may be able to get the Galaxy S25 for much less on a carrier deal, too. And given that Samsung\u2019s pre-order offers and bonuses are pointless nowadays, there\u2019s likely no way that the Galaxy S26 will have a better launch price.<\/p>\n

This is what makes the Galaxy S25 a more sensible purchase decision over the next few months. It also explains why the Galaxy S25 is seeing an uptick in sales<\/a>\u00a0several months after launch. Maybe everyone has realized that waiting is pointless.<\/p>\n

Samsung’s recent bad pre-order bonuses make waiting for the Galaxy S26 a bit pointless, especially where the S25 is already discounted.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re willing to walk outside of the comforts of your Samsung life, there are many other interesting options to look at, too. The OnePlus 13<\/a> starts at around $800 for the 12GB\/256GB version and offers a more versatile camera setup with a much larger battery and faster charging, and can often be found at a lower price. The Google Pixel 10<\/a> is now discounted to $650, just like the Galaxy S25. It offers a superior camera experience with a 5x telephoto lens, has built-in Qi2, and a much brighter display. Outside the US, options from Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO, and others are way more enticing than the Galaxy S26 will ever be.<\/p>\n

So skip the wait, put a price watch on one of these phones, wait for a good deal, and nab them. Vote with your wallet. The only way Samsung realizes it made a mistake by stagnating so long is if it sees its sales numbers and profits drop.<\/p>\n

Samsung Galaxy S25<\/a>\"SamsungSamsung Galaxy S25<\/a><\/p>\n

12GB RAM \u2022 Vastly improved software \u2022 7 years of support<\/p>\n

Refined software, AI smarts, and next-gen hardware<\/p>\n

With an emphasis on AI features, and a move to Gemini, the Samsung Galaxy S25 is an exciting update to the Galaxy S line. Equipped with a 6.2-inch FHD+ display, Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, 12GB of RAM, a powerful 50MP camera, and updated hardware materials, we expect big things from the base model of Samsung’s 2025 flagship phone.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n

\"google\"google<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samsung is gearing up for the launch of the Galaxy S26 series on February 25, but expectations for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,869,1719,6703,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-237567","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-samsung","13":"tag-samsung-galaxy-s25","14":"tag-samsung-galaxy-s26","15":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}