The Best Samsung Phones of 2026: Ultra, Fold, Budget

The Best Samsung Phones Featured in this article There's the iPhone, and then there are Samsung Galaxy phones—the two most popular phone brands in the US. But whereas Apple is the sole company behind the iOS mobile operating system, even the best Samsung phones face stiff competition in the Android world. (And yes, Galaxy phones are Android phones, though Samsung calls its layer over Android “One UI.”) Google's Pixel phones are our favorite Android devices, but Samsung's offerings are just as great and often have better hardware. Alongside Google, Samsung promises the longest software support for its cheap and high-end devices. That means you don't have to upgrade as often, since it will stay up-to-date, secure, and bug-free longer. But the Korean giant has many, many models at varying prices, so what's the best Samsung phone? We sort it out here in this guide. We also have tips and tricks to get the most out of your shiny new hardware. Check out our mobile guides, including the Best Samsung Galaxy S26 Cases, Best Samsung Galaxy S25 Cases, Best Android Phones, Best Cheap Phones, Best Pixel Phones, and Best Folding Phones. Updated September 2026: We’ve added the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy A37, and Galaxy Z Flip8; mentioned the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy S26 FE; removed some older devices; updated the best time to buy section; and updated prices. Why Buy Samsung? The best part of the Android world is the choice of hardware. Want a phone with a headphone jack? Sure! Want a phone that fast-charges in around 30 minutes? It exists. So why stick with the stalwart Samsung? In our experience and research, Samsung's smartphones have a track record of reliability, and because it's a major player, it has a wider network of authorized repair centers than competing Android manufacturers. Yes, there was the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco and even the issues with the first-gen Galaxy Fold, but Samsung now has a customer satisfaction score equal to Apple's, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. That said, we haven't read great things about the company's US customer support team. With its flagship phones, you get top-of-the-line specs, exceptional build quality, and long software support. We primarily pick Pixel phones over Samsung because we prefer Google's software experience, but there are plenty of people who like Samsung's take on Android. As always, keep an open mind and consider all your options. Is Now the Best Time to Buy? Samsung announced its new foldable range in August, and it won't upgrade the S-series until next year. If you're after the best Samsung phone, now's a good time to buy. But keep the company's launch time frames in mind if you want the latest and greatest. - The flagship Galaxy S series launches at the start of the year during Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event. The Galaxy S26 series went on sale March 11. - The budget Galaxy A series typically arrives in the spring. There are several A-series phones, so they usually dribble out during the first few months of the year. In 2026, the company launched the Galaxy A17 in January, and the Galaxy A37 and Galaxy A57 went on sale in April. - The folding Galaxy Z series always lands in the summer, and 2026's event was in August, when the company unveiled the Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra, and Z Flip8. - The midrange Galaxy FE series is the “Fan Edition,” but this is more or less a slightly cheaper variant of the Galaxy S-series. The Galaxy S26 FE was just released this month (September 2026). Consider these dates as you shop, because you may want to hold off for the new model, or it can help inform you about when to expect the best discounts. How Long Are Samsung Phones Supported? Android phones used to have disastrously poor software support. Two years after you bought your $1,000 phone, it would no longer receive software updates. Thankfully, Google began promising longer software update cycles for its Pixel phones, which pushed Samsung to match it. The following Samsung phones will receive seven years of software updates from their release date, which includes Android operating system updates and monthly security patches. The latter keeps your phone secure, and new OS versions can add new features. - Galaxy S26 FE, S26, Galaxy S26+, Galaxy S26 Ultra - Galaxy S25 FE, Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, Galaxy S25 Edge, and Galaxy S25 Ultra - Galaxy S24 FE, Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra - Galaxy Z Fold8, Z Fold8 Ultra, and Z Flip8 - Galaxy Z Fold7, Z Flip7, Z Flip7 FE, - Galaxy Z Fold6, and Z Flip6 Samsung's Galaxy A-series phones, from the A16 and up, will receive six years of updates. Most other older Samsung devices, like some in the Galaxy A-series or older flagships, will receive four years of OS updates and five years of security patches starting from the release date. This varies because Samsung has kept changing its policy year over year, but you can find more information here. To find out if your Samsung phone has a pending update, go to Settings > Software update > Download and install. It should check for any updates and download them, then you'll see an option to install. Make sure you back up your phone before installing any update. We have a guide here. Why We Recommend Buying Unlocked Most people buy phones directly from their carrier, but if you're reading this guide, we suggest you buy an unlocked smartphone. When you buy a carrier phone, it's “locked” to that network. That means if you want to switch carriers, like moving from Verizon to T-Mobile, you'll have to ask your carrier to unlock the device, and this can be a huge headache. (Especially if you're traveling and want to use an international SIM card.) Carriers usually have a few requirements to unlock a phone, like making sure your device is paid off or waiting a set period of time. Unlocked phones, on the other hand, don't have this problem. You're free to use whatever carrier you want, whenever. Carriers also mask the true cost of a smartphone. AT&T may entice you with a $ 36-per-month payment for a shiny new Samsung flagship, but in reality, that means you're paying $1,300 for a smartphone over 36 months. Did you really want to spend that much? Or will a cheaper phone suffice? Also, you're more likely to get software updates faster as they come directly from Samsung, and there's often far less preinstalled bloatware to deal with. All in all, buy unlocked! You can buy unlocked Galaxy phones directly from Samsung and most third-party retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart. The Settings to Change on Your New Samsung Phone Samsung has an annoying habit of announcing a bunch of cool new features with its smartphones, then leaving them turned off by default. If you've never fiddled with your phone's settings, there's a good chance you're missing a lot of fun, helpful features. This can include things like changing the navigation from onscreen buttons to gesture navigation, adding the battery percentage icon next to the battery bar, or keeping the display always on instead of requiring a tap on the screen. Good news for you! Since our reviewers routinely switch phones, we drummed up a list of the most important settings to change when you get a Samsung phone. Read it here. Pro tip: We can't stand Samsung's default keyboard, so we almost always switch to Google's Gboard instead. Explaining “Qi2 Ready” Samsung Phones Qi2 is the new wireless charging standard—it takes a page from Apple's MagSafe technology and embeds magnets directly into the smartphone, allowing it to connect to accessories and chargers magnetically, even the same ones available for iPhones. It could increase accessory compatibility across devices, which is a good thing. The magnets ensure precise charging, so you never worry about a misaligned phone that won't charge. It offers better efficiency and can potentially charge faster. We have more details in our Qi2 explainer here. Confusingly, Samsung's 2025 and 2026 flagship phones are “Qi2 Ready” and technically not true Qi2 smartphones. This means they can support Qi2 when paired with a magnetic case, but on their own, the S25 and S26 series don't have built-in magnets (you can still charge wirelessly). It's disappointing and creates more confusion. We've already encountered some cases with varying degrees of magnetic strength, and some cases don't quite work with basic Qi wireless charging stands. Which Samsung phones are Qi2 Ready? - Galaxy S26 - Galaxy S26+ - Galaxy S26 Ultra - Galaxy S25 - Galaxy S25+ - Galaxy S25 Ultra - Galaxy S25 Edge - Galaxy S25 FE - Galaxy Z Fold8 - Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra - Galaxy Z Flip8 - Galaxy Z Fold7 - Galaxy Z Flip7 Read our deep dive into "Qi2 Ready" for more. And check out our Best Galaxy S26 Cases guide too. Qualcomm Snapdragon vs. Exynos Chipsets A Samsung phone sold in the US may not be the same as a Samsung phone sold in the UK. That's because Samsung's Galaxy S-series flagship phones have long relied on two different processors. Devices sold in the US and select markets are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors, while other regions use Samsung's homegrown Exynos chipsets. The performance gap between these processors isn't as wide anymore, but there have been issues in the past. Exynos chips tended to overheat a few years ago, though they sometimes offer slightly better battery life than their Qualcomm counterparts. This also greatly affected camera quality, since the chip handles image processing. Again, none of this is as big an issue as it used to be, but it's worth keeping in mind as you shop. Other Samsung Phones to Consider If you don't see a Samsung phone mentioned in this guide, it may be because it isn't sold in the US and is a little harder to source for testing. But here are a few other Samsung phones we've tested. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra for $2,100: An incremental upgrade over the Z Fold7, the Z Fold8 Ultra is for foldable phone fans who want the best and are willing to pay for it. The familiar book-style form factor offers a 6.5-inch cover screen, like a regular candy bar phone, and opens to give a tablet-sized 8-inch display with a fainter crease than before and a stronger hinge. Naturally, you get top-notch performance, all-day battery life, and Samsung’s best camera in a folding phone, with a 200-megapixel main shooter, 50-megapixel ultrawide, and 10-megapixel telephoto lens. Samsung Galaxy S26 FE for $700: The Samsung Galaxy S26 FE is a perfectly decent phone with good battery life, a lovely big display, and a solid triple-camera system, but nothing about it justifies the extra $100 over last year’s almost identical S25 FE. The processor is slightly better, but that’s about it. In fact, Samsung downgraded the USB-C port to USB 2.0 in the S26 FE, so we think you’d be better off buying the S25 FE above while it’s still available. Z Fold7 for $2,000 or Z Flip7 for $1,100: If you want a Samsung foldable without the eye-watering price tag, consider 2025’s Galaxy Z Fold7 or Galaxy Z Flip7 if you can find them discounted. The Fold7 is a little thicker with a more prominent crease in the screen. The battery life isn’t great, and the ultrawide camera is weaker, but there isn’t a huge difference between it and the Fold8 Ultra. It’s a similar story for the Flip7, with the Flip8 bringing minor hinge improvements, a refined, lighter design with a less noticeable crease, a faster processor, and more useful software features for the outer display. Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge for $1,300: Have you ever wanted a really thin and lightweight phone? No? Well, Samsung has an option for you anyway. The Galaxy S25 Edge was a unique one-off last year (it's doubtful we'll see a successor) and matches several features of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, like a titanium frame, stronger front glass, and 4K 120 frames per second video recording. All the cameras even have autofocus. But it made several sacrifices to achieve its amazingly slim 5.8-mm frame (for context, the S25 Ultra is 8.2-mm thick). There's no stylus, no telephoto camera, and worst of all, the battery capacity has been slashed. We've seen this before—thin phones have always compromised on battery life, and this is no different. We constantly had to baby this phone's 3,900-mAh battery with mixed usage, and that's just not acceptable. (The iPhone Air did it better.) If you find yourself constantly near a power source and think you'll enjoy the slim and light design, then go for it. Samsung Galaxy A17 5G for $249: On paper, the Galaxy A17 seems like a really great deal. It offers six years of software support, an AMOLED screen, expandable storage, and a decent camera. Unfortunately, it's held back by lackluster performance. The problem is the very limited 4 GB of RAM in the US model, which ruins the overall experience. If you had to use your smartphone in an emergency, I would not trust the A17 to be reliable. But if your needs are extremely minimal, it may suffice. If you're looking to save some cash, it's fine to buy Samsung's Galaxy S24 range from 2024, as long as the prices are a good deal lower than the original MSRP. (They're hard to find at most major retailers.) These phones will still get support for a while, and they're pretty great. I don't think it's worth buying anything older. Should You Invest in Samsung’s Ecosystem? Samsung is one of the few smartphone manufacturers that can match Apple's hardware ecosystem. The company makes smartphones, but you can also expand your experience with a Galaxy Watch8 smartwatch, Galaxy Buds4 Pro earbuds, Galaxy Ring fitness ring, Galaxy Tab S11, and even a Windows-powered Galaxy laptop. There are perks, like some features on the Galaxy Ring and Watch8 being available only when paired with a Samsung phone, and its earbuds automatically switching between Samsung devices based on what you're using. There aren't many exclusive features when using a Galaxy phone with a Galaxy laptop, but capabilities like Quick Share let you send photos and documents between your devices (even to iPhones via AirDrop!). Again, it's not necessary, and these other devices might not be the right ones for you within their respective categories, but if you're chasing hardware parity, you have that option with Samsung. What Is Galaxy AI? With the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung launched “Galaxy AI," a selection of artificial intelligence features, many of which are powered by Google's Gemini large language models. These enable smart features that may be helpful in your day-to-day, like real-time translations during phone calls, real-time transcriptions in Samsung's Voice Recorder app, the ability to summarize long paragraphs of text in the Samsung Notes app, or changing a sentence's tone with the Samsung Keyboard. In the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy AI expanded to include Gemini as the default voice assistant and the ability for Gemini to work with multiple apps simultaneously. It also debuted Drawing Assist, which lets you sketch or enter a prompt and get an AI-generated image. Now you can also use video in real time with Gemini, even from the cover screen of the Galaxy Z Flip7. And in the Galaxy S26 series, the AI features got even more helpful. The Document Scanner built into the camera app can now erase fingers and creases and minimize distortion before converting the photo into a PDF. Audio Eraser is now available in any media app to reduce distracting background sounds in videos, so you can hear the subject clearly. And there's now built-in call screening to better filter out robocalls. Samsung also debuted Google's Task Automations in the Gemini assistant, allowing you to ask Gemini to book you an Uber or order something from DoorDash, Uber Eats, or GrubHub, though it's pretty slow. You can find many of these features in Settings > Galaxy AI to toggle them on or off. We also have an explainer on how to limit Galaxy AI to on-device processing. What Is Samsung DeX? Samsung's DeX (short for “desktop experience”) launched in 2017, and it lets you plug your Samsung phone into an external monitor and launch a desktop version of Android, all powered by the phone. You can find a list of compatible Samsung phones here—the Flip7 is the first Galaxy Flip to support DeX—and you'll need a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, plus a cable to connect the phone to the monitor. (You can also cast DeX to select screens wirelessly.) In DeX mode, you can resize Android apps and open them all in separate windows. It's a proper computing platform, though you probably won't want to use this as a permanent laptop replacement or anything of the sort. It's great if you're visiting another office, or working out of a coffee shop or airplane (if you have a portable display). We have a whole guide to setting up and using DeX here. What Happened to the Galaxy Z TriFold? I have not tested Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold, and it seems I never will. (I had some brief hands-on time with it at CES 2026, but Samsung did not provide WIRED with a test unit.) This folding phone, which had an MSRP of $2,800, officially went on sale in the US at the end of January, but three months later Samsung discontinued it because of high manufacturing costs. Yes, unfolding it from a fairly compact phone to a massive 10-inch tablet was amazing and the stuff of dreams, but it didn't justify the high price; you can buy a killer phone and excellent tablet for way less than $3,000. The luxury of having them in one pocket is incredible, but more than a $1,000 incredible? I think the TriFold is the true “phablet” Samsung promised so long ago, and the folding mechanism is novel and a marvelous feat. Hopefully, when the smartphone market picks back up, Samsung will revisit this design. It's great for productivity junkies who frequently juggle multiple apps. Alas, it's just a dream now. You'll have to stick with the standard Z Fold. —Julian Chokkattu How We Test Phones WIRED has been covering Samsung smartphones since they entered the market. With each Samsung smartphone we test, our reviewers always put their personal SIM card inside and spend as long as they can (a few weeks) using the phone as their own. We do camera testing and compare the results with similarly priced devices; we benchmark performance and play graphically demanding games to see how they fare; we try out all the new features; and we even take calls to make sure they go through and that voice quality is fine. Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that's too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.